Malternatives part 2: rum

After last week’s deep dive into jenever (a consequence of it being a local spirit to me and I felt I needed to elaborate a bit as it’s likely not very well know outside of these parts), I’m moving on to spirit that is famous the world over, and is, indeed, pretty much made the world over. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, it’s the most produced spirit in the world. Rum. The reasons for that are fairly simple.  Firstly, sugar comes in abundant supply in many parts of the world. The origins of the sugarcane plant is likely to be found in Polynesia, from where it was transported all over the world. These days, Latin America is most often associated with the production of sugarcane, and, as a consequence, rum, but it’s cultivated and produced literally all over the world (with the exception of regions deemed too cold for efficient production). Secondly: contrary to many other distilled drinks and spirits strictly regulated and controlled, or regionally protected (like whisky, jenever, cognac, armagnac...), when talking rum it’s pretty much a case of (nearly) anything goes. For instance, the only European rules are that it must be made from sugarcane, distilled at a maximum of 96% ABV and that it must have the ‘organoleptic features’ of rum (which essentially mean that it must smell and taste like rum – which says everything and therefore nothing).

This loose regulation means a lot of mass scale, often cheaper mixing rums will be presented with tons of additives in them – be it the all too familiar caramel colouring E 150 A, or copious amounts of sweet stuff (usually sugar) or other ‘spices’ to add extra flavours. And just like the bulk of whisky is blended stuff, aimed for mixing, so is rum, by and large, considered a ‘party’ drink, used in cocktails or mixers. Needless to say, that’s not where I plan on going when looking for a quality malternative. Nothing against a cheap supermarket bottle of 38% white rum which works perfectly fine in a cocktail or mixed with coke, as it serves a specific purpose. But not exactly the sort of stuff that would get whisky or true rum enthusiasts jumping with joy.

Despite rum being made and drank the world over, generally speaking  most rum is divided into  one of  3 ‘categories’ when determining style and flavour profile, all of which date back to that dark, abysmal period of Europes' colonisation and slave trade between the 16th and 19th century.

Essentially, there’s either Spanish style, French style or English style rums, referring to the rum style being produced in the former colonies of these 3 nations. I’m cutting so much corners here I may as well sign up for the Daytona 500, but let’s just role with it to keep this a simple as possible. So apologies if I don’t go into stuff like Arak from Indonesia or Cachaça from Brazil or any of the dozens of other rum styles and variations out there.

Spanish style rum relies on molasses (the viscous, syrupy ‘byproduct’ that remains when refining the sugar from the sugar cane or beet) which tends to be column distilled for a light style rum. The (THE!) obvious examples here are Bacardi and Havanna rum. A lot of the stuff comes with added sugar for extra sweetness, and from a personal perspective, this is not exactly my cup of tea when trying to enjoy a rum neat, for the sake of rum.

English style rum is also based on molasses, but differs from Spanish style rum in that it tends to be distilled in pot stills, making for a batch by batch product. Much like whisky, the difference in distilling equipment and distillation process results in a rum with a more distinctive character and flavour profile. This is where I’m hoping to find my malternatives, by the way.

French style rum, generally speaking, doesn’t rely on molasses, but on the actual juice from the sugar cane. This is important because it has a big impact on the flavour of the final result. French rum (often referred to as ‘rhum Agricole’ although I believe they are not exactly one and the same) is described as ‘fruity’, ‘grassy’ and ‘aromatic’.

As said, that’s just scratching the surface, but as I don’t want to base my opinion on a possible malterative just by trying one example, I’ve got two rums to cover this week, so  let’s move on.

Hampden 8 yo Jamaican Pot still rum. 46% ABV, natural colour, no sugar added. App. €70 (£60, $75)

I’ve tried my fair share of sweet, light rums in the past – the likes of Bacardi, Havana Club, Don Papa,… and while they work a treat in a summery cocktail, I tend to not really enjoy them when sipping neat. There’s too much (artificially added) sweetness in most of them to my liking. Even with a hefty chunk of ice thrown into the tumbler, the sweetness remains and the rum just gets watered down, most of the time. Hence when looking for interesting malternatives that could suit my palate, I’m looking more towards English style rum and/or French rhum Agricole. I couldn’t really get my hands on one of the latter  (although I can heartily recommend giving Severin XO a try) in the build up to this series, so I landed on two English style rums instead.

Hampden Estate prides itself on a long history with plenty of tradition. Dating back to the mid -18th Century, it’s fair to say this claim holds ground. I bought this bottle of their 8 yo core range for about €70 at a local brick and mortar shop, but presumably it’ll be a tenner or there about cheaper if you were to shop for it online.  Anyhoo…

Nose

Very oily / viscous,  with hints of both vanilla, mais oil and sunflower oil. Demerara sugar, toffee, chcocolate and mon cherie bon bons. Raisins and plums, with a sensation of almonds going into marzipan (without the actual marzipan sweetness, though). Hints of banana and banana foam.

Palate

‘Distilled’ sugary sweetness – literally. Again those dark sugar notes of demerara and toffee, quite prominent this time, meaning the cooked and dry fruit notes are pushed to the back a bit. A whiff of dark, bitter chocolate too, and all is sitting on a medium full mouthfeel with a hint of white pepper.

Finish

Peppery, drying and fairly long with echo’s of chocolate and banana foam.

Final thoughts

Not overly sweet, this one. Thank goodness, I hasten to add, because as said, I’m not big on overly sweet sticky rums. This actually makes for a very pleasant sipping rum. In any case, for the price range I’d be hesitant to throw this one in a cocktail shaker, so I’m relieved it's by no means mixing fodder. There’s a certain ‘dryness’ here, which makes me believe it would actually be even better  if there was a big block of ice floating around in it (it’s not whisky, so I’m allowed. Right?!) – something I will need to try when (or given the current forecasts rather IF) summer actually kicks off around here. Coming from an utter rum noob, I will say that it ‘s engaging and pleasant, even despite that banana foam thing in there. 84 to 85/100, depending on my mood (the difference between ‘good stuff’ and ‘really good stuff’)

Foursquare 15 yo (2008-2023). Matured in bourbon casks in Barbados for 13 years and 2 years in Scotand in Madeira casks.  A Ralfy release to celebrate his 1000 YT reviews. 58.1% ABV, no additives.

So, another ‘English style’ rum then, albeit from quite a different calibre. It’s ‘easy’ just throwing them all onto one big pile, especially if you live thousands of miles away. But keep in mind the distance between Jamaica and Barbados is actually well over 1200 miles (1976 km), so that would be a bit like saying Glasgow lies next to Rome or Madrid.

On the back of Ralfy cruising his merry way onto 1000 (one thousand!) videos on YouTube (ignoring the Ralfy‘extras’ he’s been doing in  recent years), he released a series of indie bottlings to celebrate this milestone. Apart from a few whiskies, there was also this 15 yo rum. And not just any rum, but a Foursquare rum. Foursquare has achieved somewhat of a legendary status, particularly due to their ‘Doorly’s’ brand,  and it has been said that Foursquare is to rum what Springbank is to whisky. With a heritage dating back to the (early) 18th century, it has been in the same family since the 1820’s. So pedigree and provenance a plenty! Every bottling released by Ralfy in this series was  pretty much gone in the blink of an eye, so needless to say I’m very grateful to my esteemed fellow Belgian barfly Nic for providing me with a generous sample.

Nose

Woody and pleasantly spicy, with wood spices, clove, star anise and aniseed. Marinated raisins, chocolate, burnt caramel (going into crème brûlée). Despite the high ABV, the alcohol only manifests itself in the shape of something resembling black pepper. Very intriguing, very interesting and very promising!

Palate

OK, now the ABV shows itself! Very ‘thick’, dense, viscous – oily, with a distinct leathery sensation. Quite close to some high proof bourbons, and in fact, it reminds me of Elijah Craig barrel proof. Which is, obviously, a very good thing indeed! Woody, polish and wax notes, dense and syrupy. Let’s add some water as I’m sure there’s plenty more to discover here! Indeed, even more notes of leather and tobacco, with echoes of fruit that remain buried under the heavier notes of dark fudge, chocolate and wood spice. Gods, this is excellent!

Finish

Long (and I do mean looooooong), woody-spicy, and ever so gently bitter with dark notes of treacle, heavily roasted coffee and bitter chocolate.

Final thoughts

 Brilliant stuff! A rum that would please just about any Scotch and/or bourbon enthusiast. When whisky gets put into overly active casks, it tends to be all about the wood. This however, shows just how well rum can respond to  long ageing in a tropical climate. This is loud, and it is proud, on the verge of it being extravagant. I don’t normally hand out scores based on a sample, but rest assured this is where it’s at! Did I say brilliant? Pretty sure I did. Anyway: brilliaaaaant!

Next week: back to Europe!