Westerhall

[mickblueeyes]

Just tasted this dandy for the second time the other day. For the price ($20) it wasn't bad. Here's the entry into my tasting journal on it.

Westerhall plantation rum is true small batch rum from Grenada, British West Indies. Each batch of ingredients is blended in varying proportions to achieve an end result that only the master distiller has in mind. Produced from 100% sugar cane, it is then double distilled in copper pot stills. After distillation, it is matured for 6 years in American bourbon oak. Only three barrels a day are produced from this distillery and each bottle has its batch number handwritten on the bottle.

This rum is a pale gold color and has a nose of light banana, dry oakiness and the slightest vanilla. The body is medium and the palate is one of the most distinct I have ever tasted. On the fore-palate, nothing appears to be going on outside of the ordinary, light oak, subtle spice and lots of vanilla, but, when it hits the mid- and after-palate, it explodes with banana and long, caramely oak. It tastes like bananas foster. This rum is truly in its own class as far as taste is concerned. This is a perfect aperitif or digestif with very dessert-like qualities

Talk amongst yourselves

[Jason Perlow]

Its nice. I have a bottle of this, as well as their 3 year old cuban style. Very smooth, I like it with a few ice cubes.

[Ed Hamilton]

"Westerhall plantation rum is true small batch rum from Grenada, British West Indies. Each batch of ingredients is blended in varying proportions to achieve an end result that only the master distiller has in mind. Produced from 100% sugar cane, it is then double distilled in copper pot stills. After distillation, it is matured for 6 years in American bourbon oak. Only three barrels a day are produced from this distillery and each bottle has its batch number handwritten on the bottle."

While I like the Westerhall Plantation Rum and their other Grand Havana Rums, I continue to be regret that the label is misleading. Anyone who has drunk real pot still rum made from 100%sugar cane, as Westerhall claims this rum to be, will immediately know something is amiss. But this is a good story for a neck tag, actually it's one of the best I've read. You might notice that there is no mention of the age of the rum on the label.

So, you ask, exactly what's the deal?

The truth of the matter is that Westerhall and their Grand Havana rums are good rums. All of these rums have a rich gold color, a nice fruit nose, are filled with vanilla, fruit, and cinnamon on the palate and finish with more vanilla and caramel. And all are very similiar.

If you visit the distillery you'll immediately see that the pot still hasn't operated in some time and the sugar works couldn't have operated for at least decades and that was in 1993, the first time I visited the distillery. In my last conversation with the blender I was told, "We've changed the formula and now we only use some sugar cane rum." But in the last 12 years the flavor of Westerhall hasn't changed significantly.

If you look at the label you will see the words "Product of the West Indies"

There is no mention of where the rum is distilled, even as lax as the laws are in Grenada they wouldn't allow a blender to label his rum, 'Distilled and blended in Grenada' if it wasn't.

The rums are imported from Trinidad where they are produced in a modern four column still and then aged in oak barrels from the states. In fact nearly all rum from the Caribbean is aged in oak barrels from the states.

If you are lucky enough to be able to compare Westerahll Plantation Rum with the Grand Havana rums you'll see that the color is similiar, and the tastes aren't so far apart. Certainly not a sugar cane pot still rum and a Cuban style rum. But they are decent rums.

Another rum they bottle is called Grenada Superb Light which is also similiar in character but without the fancy bottle. That's the one I buy since it is a little cheaper than 'wax top,' as Plantation is known on the island.

And while I'm writing about labels, Grenada hasn't been part of the British West Indies since 1974 when they became an independent country recognized by the United Nations.

[mickblueeyes]

Yikes! You would think that the ATF would have serious issues with the deliberate mislabeling of a bottle! I mean, is this not a federal crime? It would be one thing if they mislead about thier history, but to blatently lie about how the rum is produced??

[Kristian]

The ATF probably do not have the resources to go around and check these things to such a detail. They'll be satisfied that the alcohol percent is down to what it has to be and the bottle contains what it is supposed to, to a certain extent...

To correct the situation, there should be a kind of control system in the field of all rum production (not just French), a kind of certificate that the distilleries receive after they have passed an examination. At the same time terms, such as 'premium' and 'super premium', should be standardised...

Who wants the job?

[mickblueeyes]

I agree completely, but if what Ed says is indeed fact, the ATF should be informed. Every bit of historical/production information in my journal entry came from the bottle and their website. Intentionally misleading the consumer is a big faux pas IMO and needs to be addressed. The ATF is very strict about importation violations with regard to alcohol.

[Ed Hamilton]

My comments shouldn't be directed only at Westerhall. My point is that this is good rum, but don't believe everything you read on a bottle label. Would I like to see the US government get involved in this? HELL NO. They screw enough things up without having them stop liquor imports, which would more than likely be their first approach, for your security.

I can name at least six other cases where the facts have been distorted. In this case the story, and again, it is a good one, isn't actually on the label which has been approved by the BATF, it is on the neck tag. Other common places where misinformation abounds is on websites and promotional material.

For example, take a look at some of the French rhums, that claim to have been made from sugar cane. While being distilled from fermented sugar cane is only one of the requirements for a rhum to be called rhum agricole, several rhums claim to have been made from sugar cane juice either on a website or in literature that comes with the rhum. The fact is that if the rhum is rhum agricole then it will say it on the label. If is doesn't say rhum agricole, if it is white, then it probably isn't rhum agricole regardless of what the marketing people say about it.

Rhum agricole that has been aged more than three years, according to the French calender, can be called rhum vieux. I don't want to get into all the cases here but please try the rum and make your own decisions as to the quality. And don't believe everything you read. But I will stake my reputation on what I have written here and in my books.

Cheers and enjoy your rum.

[mickblueeyes]

I agree with you. I personally dislike government interference in most things. You have made several very good points. So, here is a question, where can we find out the TRUE contents of rums of this nature? Is it in your book? I feel kind of betrayed right now, as I am in the liquor business and I have unintentionally mislead my customers. Does your book contain the appropriate information regarding these rums? Thanks for any help.-

[Kristian]

I agree with you, Ed. You have to be a critical reader when you read about rums and their production and, especially, you have to know how to read between the lines. The regulations are made to be broken and most bottlers/distillers do everything they can to make their product sound better than it is. It's all about the image.

BTW: I'd also be interested in a source for true information on rums. If one of your books has that, you've got yourself a new reader here!

[Ed Hamilton]

The truth depends on who you ask. I am proud to say that I have not taken the correspondence school of journalism, that course which qualifies a lot of 'experts' to write about places they've never been, things they've never seen and spirits they've never drunk.

This is what I have written about Westerahll in Grenada in my books, "Rum is a very competitive business, and it is not uncommon for even the general manager of a distillery not to know all of the details of the blends. There are stories about blenders that died and everything being lost out the window. Even though some blends have similar characters, I am told each label is a different blend.

Westerhall Plantation Rum, the premium product from this estate, is blended and bottled at 43% alcohol by volume. This distinctive bottle, with its wax seal over the cork stopper, and hand-written batch number on the label, make a very nice presentation. This is the most popular Westerhall product among tourists and enjoys a good reputation as a blended, aged rum."

Since this topic was originally about Westerhall, which is good rum, I'll post more and some more excerpts from my books in another topic which you will recognize if you've had the patience to read this much.

[mickblueeyes]

Thanks for your insight Ed! It is much appreciated!

[Kristian]

Just to clarify my own position in this:

To correct the situation, there should be a kind of control system in the field of all rum production (not just French), a kind of certificate that the distilleries receive after they have passed an examination. At the same time terms, such as 'premium' and 'super premium', should be standardised...

I feel that this kind of control or certificate system should originate mainly from the producers themselves, not the government of some other country. If the rum producers had a shared general criteria for their rums, stating, for example, the meaning of the terms I mentioned above, they could then further develop it to their own needs - provided that they still followed the general criteria...

Perhaps the producers will come up with such a criteria spontaneously, once they realise that they have to do something to enhance the reputation and believability of their own quality products amongst their customers...

[mickblueeyes]

Exactly Kristin!

[Ed Hamilton]

When we talk about cooperation within the industry we have to appreciate that in the Caribbean alone there are more than 17 countries represented. An in a competitive marketplace cooperation is difficult at best. I wish I could share some of the things I've seen in the industry in a public forum like this but take it for granted that a lot of distilleries are run by people who haven't done a lot of business outside their country, if any. For more than a few, exporting rum has been a big step and the idea of helping someone else, their percieved competition no less, is even more foreign than the concept that 'competition is good.'

Then you have to consider that what may be considered good business in a small market that has historically only sold to tourists, just isn't going to fly in the international marketplace. But just try to convince someone who has been successful locally that they have to change their product identity. Good luck. You'll have more success getting your local representative to lower the tax on your favorite rum.

However, in the French islands there is an organization called CODERUM. As you might guess it is concerned with rum and roughly stands for the Company for the Defense of the Rum Market. There is a CODERUM for Martinique and another for Guadeloupe, which also includes the beautiful island of Marie Galante. In those islands there are standards for making claims about the rum. Some of the details are in my books but even on those islands it has historically been difficult to get all the producers to agree on standards, it took years for the AOC, Appelation de Controllee to be adopted which is a stamp that looks like a stylized couple of links of chain on the label.

AOC is a certificate that says this rhum agricole was produced in accordance with the standards for rhum agricole, produced from fresh sugar cane juice, distilled to about 70% alcohol, and other criteria that has to do with aging in barrels of less than 650liter capacity, if the rhum has been aged, etc.,etc.,etc.,etc.,

Words like rhum agricole, rhum viuex, and rhum dore have been defined. Others such as Millesime have not, though they are commonly used. It is certainly a start.

Personally I'd like to see some standards for naming rums. For example, Anejo is a spanish word that simply means old. Presently that could be anywhere from one to twenty or more years in a barrel. On the other hand, enforcing more labeling requirements will ultimately increase the price of my favorite spirit.

In the US, an age statement must reflect the youngest rum in a blend, which is quite contrary to many other countries where the consumer is left to his own taste without regard to claims on the labels. Since most blends of aged rum contain rum of many different ages, this is hard to enforce except through the good will of the distiller.

Labeling is a problem that has been attacked by the wine, champagne, cognac, etc. industry for years. I'd be willing to bet the biggest winner has been the attorneys. If a company puts out a bad product, the consumer won't be fooled for long. But if it is a good product, consumers will support it. As long as it isn't a hazard to my health, I don't get too excited.

In the past consumers haven't had the kind of information conduit that exists today right here in this forum or on any number of website guestbooks. Distillers and marketers are beginning to appreciate that as computer savvy consumers our seemingly silent keystrokes can be heard around the world very quickly and at a deafening volume.

As moderator of this forum I'm going to have the last word and close this topic. We've gotten a long way from the original posting. If you have more comments please go to: "It's what's in the bottle that counts."