The rum rabbit hole
Plumbing the wondrous depths of rum knowledge
It is always a pleasure to pen a few words in my capacity as contributing editor, because I suspect a large proportion of our valued readers will be new to the world of rum and I find the prospect of offering guidance exciting. Some may want to dig deeper, and some may have questions or be seeking clarification; whilst this publication can’t answer everything, I believe we can go a long way to guiding folks on their journey. I know the editorial team would also be keen to hear your feedback, so please reach out to us.
Recently, I was a guest on the Rum Cast podcast, and the questions took me on something of a nostalgic journey, right back to my early days in rum around 2009 when I launched TheFloatingRumShack.com. I’d been a rum drinker for more than 12 years prior, but without thinking about what I was drinking. It’s no exaggeration to say that getting into rum completely changed my life and I’ve enjoyed the travel and sense of perspective that was brought with it.
I may be enjoying the rum world through the rose-tinted sunglasses of sentimentality right now, and we may have some challenges to face – but the on-shelf offerings have just got better and better over the last few years, and the modern era is a wonderful place in terms of freely available information to the aspiring ‘rummy’. Smartphones connect us instantly to reputable sources of information (not forgetting the caveat that it’s not necessarily true just because it’s on the internet), and an opinion is but a click away should you need it. It is a glorious time to get into rum.
My rummy educational journey has (sort of) followed the Dunning-Kruger effect curve: I quickly realised that I knew nothing, and the intervening years have been about achieving various plateaus of experience and wondering what question I should be asking next. My journey has aligned with the way the rum world has developed over the last decade. No doubt I still have a bewildering number of things to learn, but that sense of ignorance is cool with me – I’d get bored otherwise.
With the end of major Covid-19 and travel restrictions, it feels like all the rum festivals are back up and running. So, if you’re wondering what the best way to understand rum is, then I’m here to say that you need to attend the events and try the rums. Ask about the production details, note how the rum feels on the palate, and try to mentally link the two details. What you’ve read in this magazine will set you in good stead.
With ever more products coming to market, it’s as important as it ever has been to make sure that we, the consumers, make educated decisions and check that the details stack up. As a part of my ‘rum trends’ article research, I found quite a few brands that are somewhat misleading in their product description, and it makes me wonder if that was unintentional, or not. It is vital for the industry to get the basics right, and I’m not talking about using gold or dark descriptors versus using the Gargano classifications. I’m talking about the production specifications: what rum is, and perhaps as importantly, what rum isn’t!
The observant reader may detect the notso-subtle ‘education-education-education’ undercurrent, and I do need to stress that it’s perfectly acceptable to drink what you like; you can take the blue pill after all. But if you take the red pill, you’ll stay in wonderland, and we can show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that getting into rum completely changed my life... ”