![]() The premium gold rum contingent was assessed by the fourth panel of the day, which consisted of: Bryan Rodriguez, spirits buyer at Harvey Nichols Dan Greifer, head bartender at Belmeis and Nicola Thomson, director at Fifteen71, who acted as chair. “Its flavour profile progresses really nicely, from fruity and sweet to more bitter, with notes of orange peel and a nutty finish. “It invites you in right from the first smell,” said Zepherin. A further five Silver medals were bestowed in the same flight, while Bacardi Facundo Neo scooped the Gold accolade in the ultra-premium white rum leg, judged by Kiely’s panel. They awarded Gold to Rum-Bar Silver and Cabby’s Rum, described as delivering “an intriguing mix of sweet and savoury notes”. In the next price tier for white rum – super-premium – two Gold medals were discovered by our third panel, which was chaired by Phil Duffy, head of spirits at Amathus Drinks, and consisted of: Chris Mathurin, rum blogger and Panos Klazidis, bar manager at Ukai restaurant. We awarded two Silvers: to Lidl UK’s “smooth” Liberté White Rum and “creamy” Havana Club 3 Years Old. Joining me on the panel was: Michal Lament, content manager at The Rum Kitchen Will Partridge, proprietor at Heads + Tails and Keegan Menezes, rum blogger. ![]() Next up, my team assessed a flight of standard-priced white rums. It is a volume-driven category, but as it seeks to expand internationally more brands produced using alembic pot stills are coming to the fore. Largely consumed in its domestic market of Brazil, cachaça is a spirit distilled from fermented sugarcane juice, but to a lower abv than agricole rum. The first, Pitú Vitoriosa, was described as “well aged” with notes of honey and a “nice finish”, while Caña Alta Joven was praised for its “delicate and balanced” profile. The first team – which consisted of: Sly Augustin, owner of Trailer Happiness Daawud Zepherin, rum ambassador at The Rum Kitchen and chaired by Melita Kiely, deputy editor of The Spirits Business – took on the diminutive cachaça round, awarding two Silver medals. The blind-tasting competition took place at The Rum Kitchen Carnaby in London last month, and saw the breadth of the category come under the scrutiny of four judging panels. Our Rum and Cachaça Masters 2019 set out to assess whether the category has been successful. As such, rum must take a multi-pronged approach to ensure high quality in a plethora of styles and price points. Bartenders and educated shoppers are also becoming more suspicious of dishonest liquid – those bottlings that use a surplus of sweeteners and colouring to offer a more mature image and secure a higher price tag.īut rum’s ascent up the premiumisation ladder continues to be slow and the category cannot neglect its mass market audience. Increasingly, consumers are seeking complexity in what they drink, meaning sweeter styles of rum are becoming more balanced and vegetal agricoles are gaining in popularity. The premium-and-above segment is driving the category’s growth, and high-end disruptor brands are eating into the share of the volume-driven players – but, then again, even the established names are capitalising on the premium opportunity. Once created, these blends are married in single casks, many of which were previously used for other spirits and/or wines.There is a lot to get excited about in the world of rum – particularly for producers who show skills through well controlled sugar content, wood management and originality.Īfter years of being the perennial party spirit, rum is starting to be taken seriously. While we may be able to replicate the recipe for these releases, the unique nature of each ingredient and the barrel they are married in makes every bottling singularly special.Įach release of our Private Release Rum is a unique blend of rums from Barbados, Jamaica, and Guyana, as well as Rhum Agricôle from Martinique. For that reason, these barrels take months to polish and perfect. ![]() Every ounce of every ingredient changes the overall character of these blends, as does the barrel that each one is aged in. Our goal is always to maximize the best attributes of each component. The Private Release Series lets us exercise our blending expertise while maintaining a single barrel-like scale controlled entirely by hand and by palate. The Barrell Private Release Series is a project in detailed blending on a scale small enough to allow extreme precision. This is the first time in our company’s history that we have offered “micro” blends to the public.
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