Flavored Rums

[NulloModo]

There are a number of flavored Rums on the market, anything from Captain Morgan's, to Vanilla Cruzan, to tons of othre stuff.

I am curious about how these flavorings are instilled into the liquor. Is it essential oils, is it sugar-syrups, is it a mixture of a little of both? Does it differ from brand to brand, and is there a way to tell from looking at the bottle, or a database resource out there?

I would be interested in trying some of these (I am starting to like regular Rum more as well, I guess if one drinks enough of it, one will come around) but I recently found out that Captain Morgan's contains sugar, something I can't drink. I was under the impression that if something contained things other than just the basic alcohol it would have to be labled a liqueur, or something other than hard liquor, bot Captain Morgans appears to be labled as just basic rum.

Are there standards in place for what can and can't be put into something known as 'rum' or 'whiskey'? And does anyone know of any flavored or blackstrap style rums that are definately sugar-free?

Thanks a bunch.

[sladeums]

On a similar note, my mother-in-law gave me a pint bottle of rum she got from "...a restaurant that bottles it's own rum..." in St. Barths.

It's a vanilla rum, and tastes fairly ok to me (especially w/ one of the cigars she brought back w/ her as well...ahem, ahem).

I'm curious as to what I am drinking.

It's in a 375ml bottle w/ a single label on the front w/ graphics of a variety of fish.

The label reads:

Rhum Vanille

Domaine d'Albert

"La Gloriette"

Plage de Grand Cul-de-Sac

Saint-Barth - F.I.J.I.

I'm unsure of what to make of the label and found no obvious google refs.

Any ideas as to the provenance of this drink or any other comments/thoughts?

Is it just what she said - nothing special or out of the ordinary; or is it something else?

Just curious.

[Pan]

NulloModo, I thought all rum has sugar content. Is that incorrect?

[scheer]

NulloModo, I thought all rum has sugar content. Is that incorrect?

←

In fact in the EU is is illegal to add anything but caramel for colouring purposes to the rum. So sugar is illegal in the EU to add.

But I am aware of the fact that there are a lot of rums, blended and bottled in the EU who add sugar, which still is illegal. Where is the rum police????

Concerning the flavour; this is al done together with flavour companies, who have specialists for alcoholic beverages

Scheer

[Ed Hamilton]

I am curious about how these flavorings are instilled into the liquor.  Is it essential oils, is it sugar-syrups, is it a mixture of a little of both?  Does it differ from brand to brand, and is there a way to tell from looking at the bottle, or a database resource out there?

If a rum label, bottled in the US or Puerto Rico, tells you that it is flavored with natural flavoring it has been flavored with flavors that are not synthetically produced. This does not necessarily mean that a vanilla-flavored rum is flavored with any vanilla but only that the flavoring used is from a natural, as opposed to a synthetic source. Natural flavorings include essential oils - distilled from organic sources, flavorings pressed from organic sources and flavors leeched from organic sources.

Most rum companies buy their flavors from commercial flavor houses that make flavoring for all kinds of food products. As for a database of flavorings used in rums, most distillers guard their sources for competitive reasons, but look for the words 'natural flavoring.'

Take a look at the ingredients on a can of pumpkin pie filling and you'll see that many are actually made with sweet potatoes - a natural flavor. An example of a synthetic flavor is a sugar substitute like aspartame, or an artifical sweetener.

I recently found out that Captain Morgan's contains sugar, something I can't drink.  I was under the impression that if something contained things other than just the basic alcohol it would have to be labled a liqueur, or something other than hard liquor, bot Captain Morgans appears to be labled as just basic rum.

It is a little confusing but Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum, sold in the US, is a spiced rum so it can contain a number of things, and if they're 'natural' it's legal in the US. Captain Morgan, like a lot of spiced rums, contains some sugar, other's contain sugar cane syrup.

Are there standards in place for what can and can't be put into something known as 'rum' or 'whiskey'? 

There are standards, but unfortunately, not all of the regulatons are observed by all the disitllers and blenders.

[Ed Hamilton]

"...a restaurant that bottles it's own rum..." in St. Barths.

It's a vanilla rum, . . .

I'm curious as to what I am drinking.

It's in a 375ml bottle w/ a single label on the front w/ graphics of a variety of fish.

The label reads:

Rhum Vanille

Domaine d'Albert

"La Gloriette"

Plage de Grand Cul-de-Sac

Saint-Barth - F.I.J.I.

Every time I go to St Barth's I find at least one new flavored rhum. I have no personal knowledge of this rhum but will give you an educated guess based on my experience with other flavored rhums made in the St Barth's and the other French West Indies islands.

If there is any vanilla bean in the bottle, it is probably flavored with real vanilla, and may have a little vanilla flavoring added to the blend. The cost of vanilla has risen considerably in hte las tfew years, so the use of vanilla beans as the sole flavoring has been curtailed.

The alcohol probably came from Guadeloupe, the closest French island to St Barth's and the preferred rhum drunk by the French population of that island. If the rhum is sweet, it probably contains some sugar cane sugar syrup, another favorite ingredient found in a lot of the flavored rhums found in the islands.

In the islands, sugar cane syrup or sugar is cheaper than aritfical sugar so you can be fairly certain that if the rhum is sweet it has been sweetened with natural cane sugar.

[Ed Hamilton]

NulloModo, I thought all rum has sugar content. Is that incorrect?

All rum is made from sugar cane juice, syrup or molasses. But the sugar is fermented and becomes alcohol, which is distilled into the ethanol we drink. Many dark rums are colored with caramel - burnt sugar- but the sugar used to make the alcohol doesn't come through the distillation process.

But like scheer points out, not all of the rum blenders follow all the rules, which is one of the reasons that it is important to know the distiller or blender whose name is on the label.

If the label doesn't tell you who distilled or blended the rum you're drinking, the marketer probably doesn't want you to know.

[Pan]

Thanks for your answers. Sounds like it's complicated out there.

[Rene]

Actually it's not complicated. There are (in the EU, I don't know about the USA or elswhere) clear rules, but there is no control. Without control "money" will create it's own rules.

[Bill Poster]

Am I right in thinking the Morgans spiced alcohol content is below 37.5? Which means, I think, that it SHOULD be classed not as a rum but as a liqueur?

[PR Rum Time]

How about "Spiced sugarcane Spirit"

David

[Ed Hamilton]

Am I right in thinking the Morgans spiced alcohol content is below 37.5? Which means, I think, that it SHOULD be classed not as a rum but as a liqueur?

←

Depending on which country you are talking about, yes, yes, and probably yes. But the rules are slightly different, or interpreted differently, for spiced rums.

Bacardi Limon is another example of a flavored rum that is bottled at 35% alcohol and most people swear that it is rum.

[Ed Hamilton]

How about "Spiced sugarcane Spirit"

David

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Most commercially bottled sugar cane spirits that are flavored are flavored with fruit and the like. On the other hand, a lot of locals 'spice' their spirits with all manner of herbs and roots, the most popular of which is bois bande, which according to tradition is good for the wood.

[divalasvegas]

Would a home flavoring process be the same as with vodka? This would ensure that the added flavoring is a natural one, as in lemon peel or orange peel or raspberries added to white rum and allowed to "mellow" for a while. And would this process be a matter of days, weeks, or months?