Everything you need to know about the types of Rum that exist

Rum is distilled in more s from 80 countries and the methods to produce it use the most diverse techniques, depending on the type of raw material (molasses, juice, syrups), the type of fermentation (spontaneous or with yeasts) distillation (continuous or discontinuous), aging (oak barrels, oak, stainless steel), the place of aging (tropical, continental). From all these combinations, completely different types of rum are born that are difficult to compare and this in contrast to other distillates such as whiskey, cognac, armagnac, etc. It has generated some confusion in the market.

The origin of this multitude of fonts Rum dates back in part to colonial history, which led to The British, French and Spanish began to colonize the Caribbean, giving rise to three very different schools of rum distillation techniques, with up to three discordant denominations, that is, rum, rhum e ron. There are designations of controlled origin relating to some producing countries that have attempted to regulate the types of rum with more or less precise specifications, which serve to guarantee the authenticity of the rum.

Among them we can mention those of rum Venezuelan rum, Guatemalan rum, Cuban rum, Jamaican rum, Madeira rum (Protected Geographical Indication) and finally the most complete, that of agricultural rum from Martinique, which addresses all The topics of rum production defining raw materials, fermentation, distillation and aging methods. To try to define the types of rum we will stick to the categories that define it in commercial terms and the most common searches carried out on the web, generally on the production methodology. n (A), color (B), intensity and alcoholic degree (C) and aging (D). Below, we will list other types of rum that are highly sought after, but that represent evolutions of the previous categories.

 

Types of Rum

By production methodology

There are various types of rum by methodology ;a production, we detail them below.

COMMERCIAL RUM

Commercial rum refers to the Spanish school of rum, the one that changed The history of this spirit will be revealed, transforming it from a sailor's drink to the favorite ingredient in many of the most famous cocktails in the world such as the Mojito and the Daiquiri. The Spanish were the last to start producing rum in the Caribbean (more than a hundred years after the French and English) and perhaps that is why they approached this distillate with a more commercial, making rum known throughout the world.

The merit is mainly the Catalan Facundo Bacardi, who arrived He went to Cuba in 1860 and decided to revolutionize the world of rum by creating a distillate with a light flavor completely different from the much more "powerful" ones. contemporaries. For this he used of the production techniques typical of Spanish Sherry and the invention of the continuous distillation column, capable of economically producing large quantities of rum. 

AGRICULTURAL RUM

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Agricultural rum is a type of rum that was developed from traditional rum, born in the French and English colonies already at the end of the 17th century through the distillation of sugar molasses. In fact, agricultural rum was only born in the 1920s in Martinique, using sugar cane juice instead of molasses. The turning point that took The distillation of this more expensive raw material was determined by the collapse of the cane sugar market that occurred in previous years, which left It made the sugar factories unprofitable and therefore reduced the production of molasses, that is, the residue of sugar. production, used until then to make rum.

Later, other countries such as Guadeloupe, French Guiana and others of French origin developed this type of agricultural rum, but the only agricultural rum that can boast AOC (controlled designation of origin) is that of Martinique. There are also other producers of agricultural rum in the world, such as those on the Island of Madeira that can also boast recognition as a protected geographical indication product (PGI) and those on the Island of Reunion. ;n and other Indian Ocean Islands. Agricultural rum is experiencing growing success among international audiences.

TRADITIONAL RUM

The rum that we can define as traditional It is of English origin, the first rum officially produced in the world on the island of Barbados in 1647. The English decided to invest heavily in rum in the territories of all their Caribbean colonies, because unlike the Spanish The French and French did not have large quantities of distillates produced at home and therefore had to buy them from the opposing powers. From there It derives from the traditional school of English rum developed in the early 18th century in Caribbean colonies such as Barbados, Jamaica, English Guiana and later also in India.

The production was initially directed to Royal Navy sailors who were provided with a daily supply of rum (the Tot), then, with the refinement of the distillate, the rum also became much appreciated at home. Traditional English rum is normally produced with sugar cane molasses, with long natural fermentations and the use of discontinuous Pot Still stills. There are still distilleries making traditional rum, just as they did 250 years ago, we recommend reading Hampden's History of Jamaican Rum for more details.

 

TYPES OF RUM BY COLOR: WHITE – DARK – BLACK

 

WHITE RUM

White is not the natural color of rum, if by rum we understand a distillate aged in wooden barrels. In fact, aged white rum (always a Bacardi invention with its Bacardi Carta Blanca) is obtained by bleaching the color of the distillate with filters that eliminate its dark pigmentation. By now there are many examples of aged white rums especially in Cuba, the true homeland of white rum.

However, there are two other types of white rum: the non-aged one, the best known is the Jamaican white rum, and the one aged in stainless steel barrels: the agricultural white rum of Martinique. Since its inception, Cuban white rum has been associated with the world of rum-based cocktails such as the famous Mojitos, Daiquiris, Cuba Libre, while Jamaican white rum is mainly used at home for rum-based cocktails. and soft drinks or the classic Mai Tai.

DARK AMBER RUM

 

Rum is dark. So will respond Most people asked about the tone of this distillate. In reality, when it comes out of the stills, the distillate, which is a brandy and cannot yet be defined as rum, will be transparent and not amber or dark. The tone will be conferred by the aging of the rum that will produce amber or even darker rums, but not only in proportion to the duration of aging but also due to other factors such as the type of barrel, the size of the barrel and the place of aging.

The fact that the pu The fact that the public generally considers more amber or darker rums to be older and therefore more valuable has led producers to accentuate the nuances of the distillate, with more or less sophisticated methods. less questionable. They range from the addition of caramel, legal in many countries, to the infusion of oak chips authorized by the AOC of Martinique, to more unfair practices such as royal dyes. The color of these rums can have very variable gradations, ranging from straw to golden colors, light amber, dark amber to colors similar to mahogany.

Amber or dark rum It is produced all over the world and a clear distinction between this multitude of proposals could be to distinguish between rums made from single vintage barrels such as Bally Millesimato Agricultural Rum and those with a mixture of different rums, as well as the Zacapa Royal that blends vintages between 6 and 25 years old using the Solera method. However, it is the most developed type in the world of rum, generally associated with the world of tasting and not with cocktails.

 

BLACK RUM

 

Rum cannot be black, except with the addition of spices or coloring, or it can come very close to this color when aged in highly charred barrels. It remains, as for dark rums whose brown tone is accentuated, more of a commercial necessity than the symptom of true aging.

Among the black rums in the market, spiced rum (another type of rum) produced with Trinidad & Tobago is having a great success: it is Kraken rum, which with a careful marketing campaign and the particularity of its bottle and its color has attracted a new audience of young enthusiasts. Another black rum is the 10-year-old Don Papa rum, aged for seven years in oak barrels and a second refinement in highly charred barrels that give it a very dark color. 

 

TYPES OF RUM BY INTENSITY AND ALCOHOL: LIGHT – HEAVY

 

LIGHT RUM – MILD RUM

 

Rums are defined as light or soft, generally produced in former Spanish colonies such as Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, characterized by a slightly aggressive palate and notes that tend towards the sweetness of caramel. The evolution of this type of rum started with of the great success of the rums produced in Cuba from the 19th century onwards and expanded until reaching distant places like the Philippines, also a former Spanish colony.

For this type of rum, the research is aimed at achieving an olfactory and palate friendliness that makes them pleasant both in tasting and in cocktails, given the sweetness and fruity notes that distinguish it. Those who prefer to drink rum on social occasions especially like them and given their Cuban origin they are available in light and dark colors obtained with a long aging aimed at achieving the harmony of the distillate. Important rum brands belong to this category, among which we can mention Bacardi, Havana Club, Diplomatico, Matusalem, Zacapa, Santa Teresa. The light type of rum is opposed to rum of Jamaican origin, that is, Pesado rum.

 

RON HEAVY – STRONG RUM

 

The heavy rum par excellence is the Jamaican rum, a rum loaded with esters, that is, those particles that, thanks to low-temperature distillation, migrate from the fermented molasses must to the distillate. These particles are the protagonists of these highly aromatic rums loved above all in the Anglo-Saxon world and by rum experts who appreciate the particularly pronounced olfactory and palate notes.

Hence, heavy rum , unlike light rums, is not considered a rum suitable for beginners, for those approaching the world of rum for the first time, precisely because it deviates from the classic canons of commercial rum. When buying a bottle of Pesado rum you have to look at the ester content, normally highlighted on the label: it goes from 60/120 mg of esters per 100 ml of alcohol (low intensity rum) to 1500/1600 mg of esters per 100 ml of alcohol (very intense rum). At the origin of these rums, there are often still distillers who perpetuate a traditional methodology that has been passed down for more than 250 years, as in the case of Hampden rum.< /p>

 

TYPES OF RUM FOR AGEING: ANEJO – EXTRA ANNEX – VO – VSOP – XO

 

RON ANEJO – EXTRA ANEJO RUM

 

The definitions of aged rum or extra añejo are typical of Spanish school rums and are in some cases even used inappropriately, given that it is not clearly understood what they are meant for. What the words refer to and what rums in case of blend are present in the bottle.

Even the recent naming of origin that governs Cuban rum (2013) has not established the meaning of anejo and extra-aejo in peremptory terms, however we can refer to the Havana Club products that, like all Cubans, belong to the denomination From origin to discover that both Havana Club 3 years and Havana Club 7 years are proposed as aged rum, while for an extra aged rum the reference is that of Havana Club Máximo , which as the website says "is artisanal, mixing the most valuable and oldest rum reserves", but without indication of the age of the rums present in the mixture. This type of denomination is also used in the Dominican Republic: for example, Brugal Añejo rum, composed of rum aged between 3 and 5 years, and Brugal Extra-Viejo, which is 8 years old. ;the more of aging.

This type of naming Rum gives non-unique indications, but it is useful for brands to differentiate their products, as happens (in an even more confusing way) for the Premium and Super Premium types of rum.

 

RON VO – RON VSOP

 

The VO and VSOP rum appellations and Extra Vieux were officially introduced by the AOC of Rhum Agricole Martinique in 1996 and partially reproduce those used in France for cognac. As in everything related to the AOC (controlled designation of origin) specification of this type of rum, the reason is to provide a certification supported by careful controls of the actual aging of the rum.</span

The designation includes two others classification types that are made up of Rhum Blanc, aged in barrels for a minimum of three months and Rhum Elevè sous bois, aged in barrels for a minimum of twelve months. But the most important classification refers to the three oldest rums:

• Rhum VO will be a rum aged in barrels for a minimum of three years;
• Rhum VSOP will be a rum aged in barrels for a minimum of four years;
• Extra Vieux will be a rum aged in barrels for a minimum of six years; 

Extra Vieux o rums arrive in some cases also called XO as did the Clement distillery in Martinique, for its Clement .

 

RON OVERPROOF – BARREL PROOF

 

The brandy that will give origin of rum, after its distillation it will have an alcoholic graduation that will fluctuate between 65-75° with batch distillation methods, or around 95° in the case of continuous distillation. This means that the rum, even when aged, will have an alcohol content that is difficult to reconcile with the needs of the market, which generally prefers an alcohol content around or slightly higher than 40%.

To get them in the vast majority, in most cases it will be diluted the distillate, but in the case of overproof or barrel rums this dilution will be reduced or even non-existent. The tradition of overproof rum was born with the British navy and the so-called proof, which consisted of mixing gunpowder with brandy, and then trying to set it on fire. Only in the case of brandy and later rum with an alcoholic strength greater than 57.15 did the fire occur. the premises and its purchase could be approved.

Since then, overproof rum has It means rum with an alcohol content above this threshold and there are still many on the market, such as Jamaican Hampden rum. Barrel proof rum, on the other hand, is precisely a rum with the strength of the barrel, therefore not diluted. There are not many examples of this rum with a very strong alcohol content (even above 70°), but there are many examples of this rum. illustrious examples such as Velier's bottlings of the legendary Caroni rum.

 

RON XO

 

XO rum has become It is currently synonymous with long-aged rum, which is why it is the name associated with the most important rums offered by a distillery. The element that unites all XO rums is the minimum aging of six years, which can refer to a single type of rum or, in the case of blended rums, to the age of the youngest rum that it mixes. Spanish school rums such as Ron Zacapa Centenario XO Solera belong to this last category and in fact will be composed of rums ranging from 6 years old (minimum age to consider an up to 25 years of aging.

On the other hand, it cannot boast of This definition, despite being an excellent rum, Barcelò Imperial that is composed of a mixture of rums ranging from 4 to 10 years. Therefore, the average age is seven years, but the youngest rum is four years old and therefore younger than the age allowed to define an XO rum. XO rum is produced all over the world, with different methods and raw materials (molasses or cane juice): among others we can highlight excellent rums such as: Ron Millonario XO, Plantation Rum Barbados XO, Saint James XO rum.

 

OTHER TYPES OF RUM

 

There are still other types of rum on the market, often attributable to the types described above or simply representing imaginative classifications. Among the best-known spiced rums we can point out, appreciated especially by the youngest, which is usually composed of a rum distillate to which spices such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger and many are added. others.

They are also produced by brands famous like Legendario, Bacardi, Kraken, Captain Morgan. Rum with honey that is not really a rum, but a liquor since it does not reach 37.5° (the minimum to be defined as rum), known above all for the one produced in the Canary Islands, Ronmiel. Another product that is associated with rum without possessing its characteristics is the so-called Fantasia Rum, obtained by mixing alcohol and caramel with a marginal part composed of real rum. It is a cheaper "rum", used mainly in cooking.

Navy rum, for its part , is a type of rum inherited from the military tradition of the British Royal Navy, which distributed a daily ration of rum to its sailors. These are generally blends of distilled and aged rums from two or more of the following former colonies: Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad. Finally, other purely commercial denominations (often imaginative and of little significance) are: Ron Premium, Ron Super Premium, Ron Ultra Premium, Ron Oscuro, Ron Chiaro, Ron Ambrato, Ron Oro, Ron Fantasia, Añejo Reserva and many more. ;s.

 

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