French Colony Rhum vs ex-Spanish possessions' Ron

[John Talbott]

I have just learned that Pti's blog is now in English and was interested that she was an expert in Creole food; so a question that has always interested me: why are the rhums from the French Departments (e.g. Guadeloupe & Martinique) aged and labelled 5, 10, etc years as is Cognac, Calvados, etc in the mother country but ron from ex-Spanish possessions (eg Cuba, Puerto Rico) has levels of quality but is not aged or labelled by years, whilst the mother country's Spanish Brandy is.

[Ptipois]

French rums are aged in oak casks and their aging undergoes stages like cognac or armagnac.

The main particularity of high-quality French rums ("rhums agricoles", compared to rums from other Carribean islands, except Haiti which uses the French method with an extra distillation) is that they are distilled from pure, slightly fermented cane juice (vesou) whereas other rums are distilled from molasses. The process is very much like the cognac process: first wine is made from the juice, then the wine is distilled into a spirit, then the spirit is aged.

Low-quality French rum like Negrita is also distilled from molasses.

Age is important because all rums spend some time in oak casks, even white rum, which spends about 3 months there before being bottled. Amber rum spends 18 months in oak casks. At least three years of aging are necessary to deserve the name "rhum vieux". VO rum = three years, VSOP = four years, XO or hors d'âge after six years.

I do not know much about the way other rums are aged, in what types of casks, etc. La Rhumerie on boulevard Saint-Germain serves a wonderful rum from Trinidad (Angostura), hence distilled from molasses, but judging by the taste I am pretty sure it is aged in oak.