Rums for Discovery

Rum is made all over the globe—even in Canada. Some bottlings build complexity by blending spirits from several distilleries or regions, or are even aged and blended in different locales. Surprise the rum fan who has everything by gifting one of these unusual bottles.

A RUM FOR EVERYONE

The LCBO’s Rum Shop (look for it online at lcbo.com/rumshop) showcases some rare and unique bottles, like Charles Merser & Co. London Blended Rum (LCBO 23896, 700mL, $59.95), a complex blend of spirits from Jamaica, Barbados and the Dominican Republic, carefully matured in small barrels in England.

FOR: Fans of cocktails or of Hayman’s Gin (it comes from the same spirits family).

Canada doesn’t grow sugarcane, but it produces molasses and has a coastalinspired rum culture. Fortress Rum (LCBO 667014, $53.95) from Nova Scotia, in the tradition of the region’s historic rum trade, matures at the Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton, gaining maple and date flavours in the barrel.

FOR: Maritimers, sailors and rum-sippers.

In South America, sugarcane juice is distilled into a style of rum unique to Brazil, called cachaça. Unaged, it can smell of cut-grass and flowers, and barrel-matured bottlings like Leblon Cachaça (LCBO 516088, $34.95) have tropical-fruit and caramelized-sugar notes.

FOR: Brazilian football fans and lovers of Caipirinha (a Daiquiri-like cachaça drink).