Understanding Rum

[FrogPrincesse]

Jo,

La Favorite has the most funk of all the white agricoles I've had so far. I've ranked the ones I have at home by increasing level of funk: J.M (40%), Neisson, Clement canne bleue, La Favorite. I also have Damoiseau from Guadeloupe that I haven't compared to the others but has less funk than La Favorite based on my recollection.

For more of that agricole character you may need to plan a trip to Martinique or Guadeloupe and get your rhum directly from the source, from small producers...

Edited July 3, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Hassouni]

Any rum/rhums that might have as much funk as or more funk than La Favorite Blanc?

 

WNOP but you know that already

[ChrisTaylor]

Any rum/rhums that might have as much funk as or more funk than La Favorite Blanc?

 

Does it have to be a white rum? 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Does it have to be a white rum? 

 

Maybe not.  Do you have a suggestion?

[ChrisTaylor]

Maybe not.  Do you have a suggestion?

 

If you want old socks there's always Inner Circle. 

[Hassouni]

Maybe not.  Do you have a suggestion?

 

Smith & Cross, Batavia Arrack...

Edited July 3, 2014 by Hassouni (log)

[tanstaafl2]

Smith & Cross, Batavia Arrack...

 

Batavia Arrack is almost mezcal funky but in such a good way! It is an Arrack which is not exactly a rum though although the Batavia Arrack from Indonesia is a cane based spirit. So I suppose you could consider it a subset of rum?  Some Arrack (Sri Lankan and Filipino styles for example) is made from coconut flower sap rather than cane sugar. Tastes very different from Batavia Arrack to me. I like Batavia Arrack much better.

 

I am told some cachaça's can be pretty funky but I only have limited experience with them as it seems hard to find any here but the most basic "industrial" brands of cachaça which I find to be a bit underwhelming.

[Hassouni]

Batavia arrack specifically I consider a subset of rum, yeah

 

The thing with cachaça is that there are literally thousands of distillers and we get like what, half a dozen on the American market?

[FrogPrincesse]

I am told some cachaça's can be pretty funky but I only have limited experience with them as it seems hard to find any here but the most basic "industrial" brands of cachaça which I find to be a bit underwhelming.

Leblon is very funky/grassy, similar to a white agricole.

[tanstaafl2]

Leblon is very funky/grassy, similar to a white agricole.

 

Leblon is perhaps the best of a rather underwhelming group of the few I have access to locally. They did a two year old 375ml release of Leblon Reserva Especial that was pretty decent as well.

 

 

Batavia arrack specifically I consider a subset of rum, yeah

 

The thing with cachaça is that there are literally thousands of distillers and we get like what, half a dozen on the American market?

 

Yes, that is the frustrating part. I know there are probably some really good ones out there but we get so few options here. Mae de Ouro was another decent one to me. I would really like to explore some of the aged versions particularly using local Brazilian woods.

 

But for now it is a category of spirits I just don't put much effort into until availability improves.

[FrogPrincesse]

Leblon is perhaps the best of a rather underwhelming group of the few I have access to locally.

Whatever you do, stay away from Sagatiba pura. I thought it was decent pre-Campari days, but the bottle I got last year is really terrible. I am tempted to just pour it down the drain.

[tanstaafl2]

Whatever you do, stay away from Sagatiba pura. I thought it was decent pre-Campari days, but the bottle I got last year is really terrible. I am tempted to just pour it down the drain.

 

Sorry to hear you got stuck with a bad bottle but I will heed your advice and avoid the brand if at all possible!

[Moto]

Leblon is perhaps the best of a rather underwhelming group of the few I have access to locally. They did a two year old 375ml release of Leblon Reserva Especial that was pretty decent as well.

 

 

 

Yes, that is the frustrating part. I know there are probably some really good ones out there but we get so few options here. Mae de Ouro was another decent one to me. I would really like to explore some of the aged versions particularly using local Brazilian woods.

 

But for now it is a category of spirits I just don't put much effort into until availability improves.

I also would love to try some aged cachaca.  I always hear about hundreds if not thousands of distilleries in Brazil but even a web search doesn't yield much.  I would love to give friends visiting Brazil four or five brands to bring back.  Really seems to be an unexplored world.

 

I like Leblon but I have even more affection for Velho Barriero.  Not for sipping but I think they make a great Caipirinha.  The spirit is rougher(in a good way) than Leblon and at $13.00/liter about 1/4 the price.  I would be surprised if it is not available to you in Atlanta.

 

While Agricooles and cachaca may follow the same recipe on paper I think their respective funkiness is quite different.  I will have to experiment side by side with cachaca in a daquiri(or agricole in a caipirinha) to  truly compare them.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Unfortunately I know of no source for Inner Circle.  W&N and S&C are nice, of course, but I am looking for something funkier.

[Hassouni]

That's about as funky as it gets I'm afraid. 

[bostonapothecary]

For those of you interested Jamaican rums I found a few new texts from the early 20th century and wrote up a little post about it. "Muck hole" not "Dunder pit". I would love some comments either here or there. The sources give pretty amazing portraits about the rum industry in Jamaica in the early 20th century and it would be interesting to see how these tellings differ from what we are taught in source less popular culinary these days. I would also love to know if these fairly recently digitized texts were previously known to anybody out there in the popular culinary / spirits world. Now to find a sip of Jamaican rum.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

After no more than a third of a zombie I'm having a tad of trouble parsing your post -- but the blog entries are most interesting, Thanks!  According to Wayne Curtis, the Jamaican overseers formerly would pee in the pits to discourage slaves from imbibing the contents.  I suppose that would qualify as "adventitious matter".

 

 

 

Edit:  If anyone would know about the spirits world, I'm guessing it would be the Jamaicans.

Edited July 5, 2014 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[tanstaafl2]

According to Wayne Curtis, the Jamaican overseers formerly would pee in the pits to discourage slaves from imbibing the contents.  I suppose that would qualify as "adventitious matter".

Not sure even that would deter a determined alcoholic. And no doubt there were a few in Jamaica, mon (as there are in pretty much every corner of the world!).

[EvergreenDan]

I saw St George Agricole today at the (staggering) price of $50. Anyone have any info? Agricole's seem hard to come by. I can find JM and Clement(s), but not much else. Not counting Barbancourt.

[FrogPrincesse]

It's good stuff. It's made in California from sugar cane grown in the Imperial Valley, east of San Diego. They use traditional techniques and the taste is comparable to a Martinique agricole. It's a bit more expensive though.

[FrogPrincesse]

Dan - For a detailed review of this rhum, you can check out Josh Miller's blog here (keep in mind that he is not usually a fan of agricole...).

 

[Hassouni]

$50? Gasp, choke, gag...

[ChrisTaylor]

A new addition to the collection: Dictador 12. Maple syrup. Vanilla. Praline. Lovely.

[Hassouni]

Sounds like another candidate for a good old-fashioned by just adding vanilla

[Hassouni]

From a post I wrote on the rum project, a review of Berry Bros & Rudd Enmore 16 year old Guyana rum.

 

 

 

I bit the bullet and bought a $90 bottle of rum (two actually, but the other hasn't been opened). This is the first real independently bottled rum (though perhaps Scarlet Ibis and S&C count?) in my collection. 

16 years old, from a "Versailles" pot still at Diamond, according to Berry Bros. What's Enmore about it? Who knows. Here's my half-assed review, given that I'm not great at picking apart flavors and smells: 

Nose: bitter almond/kirsch notes, slight acetone/paint thinner type aromas down low, extremely faint almost strawberry-ish, bits of heathery scent reminiscent of highland malts. Initially varnished wood, then unvarnished, aged wood more apparent as it airs out. Notes of freshly carved pumpkin hit as well. 

Taste: Initially fruity, but balanced. Indeterminate fruits, then pineapple on the finish, possibly passion fruit, balanced with black pepper and smoke (not peaty smoke); some pot-still esters and pervasive molasses tang/funk without the sweetness. in the same vein, a quick flash of Middle Eastern sugar syrup (the kind used for baklava), but again without being sweet. As in the nose, the wood also asserts itself in the taste after a few minutes. 

General remarks: 
Well, there's no doubting this is rum (as opposed to whisky), but 16 honest years in oak really have a lot of the same effect. Although I'm sure the sugar levels are 0g/L, it is marginally less dry than an unsherried single malt. It has a lot in common with MGXO and Seale's 10, but more robust, presumably due to it being 100% pot distillate. It's more powerful than the Bajans without arriving at the do-your-head-in dundery funk of a Smith & Cross or a Wray & Nephew. (Next up is the 10 year old Jamaican BBR rum....) 

This is the first pour from the bottle, I'm sure it will change. I will do a side by side with ED15 later, but from what I remember of the latter, there is no comparison. From the last time I had some, the ED15 points in the direction of what this BBR rum offers, but doesn't reach it. 

Edited July 23, 2014 by Hassouni (log)