Premium Rums

[Ed Hamilton]

I was recently asked to review a premium rum and was told that the rum I recieved was a premium product because it is going to retail for more than $35 for 750ml in the US market. I don't generally don't look at price as the reason that a product is premium, but maybe I should.

In your opinion what makes a rum, or any other spirit, a premium product? Is it the price or is the taste and quality of the experience more important?

[Jason Perlow]

In my opinion its a premium product if its made in an artisanal manner. This doesn't mean it necessarily has to come from a small producer, a large producer can make a premium rum as well -- examples of that would be J. Wray & Nephew (Appleton) and Cruzan, and to some extent Licorera Zacapaneca (Ron Zacapa/Ron Botran) is as well. Bacardi 8 is probably also a premium rum by that metric. While I think the age of the rum contributes to the desireability of a rum, its not mutually exclusive to premium -- a 3 year old rum can be a premium rum just as a 15 year old is.

[Bill Poster]

It's a little different to vodka. A premium Vodka is expected to be triple distilled etc. With dark rum, one looks first at the age. With a light rum who knows? We are starting to see super premium rums now. Its such a grey area.

[bigbear]

You don't necessarily have to pay a premium price for a rum of premium quality. That said, when I hear the word "premium" associated with any product, I assume that it means a higher than average price, no matter the quality.

[danimal]

Hi Ed,

there's no good answer for what, exactly, separates a premium from an average rum. It's completely subjective. Ronrico could start calling their mass market rum "premium" tomorrow and who could argue? Who could care less? Not me.

There are some inexpensive rums that are very high quality. In my opinion, One Barrel rum is an example of that. Would we call this kind of rum "premium"? The same holds true for expensive rums that are unimpressive. Are these rums premium or just overpriced?

Marketing doesn't make a great rum. A fancy bottle might not contain a drinkable rum. A rum that's aged for five years in the tropics might be nasty to drink, while a rum aged at altitude might not become remarkable after seven years. "Premium" is subjective. If I say my rum is premium, it's true. However, it's only true for me. Others are free to disagree.

I'll see you in Manhattan at Rumfest. It should be a great time.

Dan

[mbanu]

I was recently asked to review a premium rum and was told that the rum I recieved was a premium product because it is going to retail for more than $35 for 750ml in the US market. I don't generally don't look at price as the reason that a product is premium, but maybe I should.

In your opinion what makes a rum, or any other spirit, a premium product? Is it the price or is the taste and quality of the experience more important?

←

What I pay for in a premium quality rum is age and flavor, as these are the things besides advertising that add costs to a spirit, and the things that make them different than a cheap vodka substitute.

A premium rum comes from a premium wash. Chnces are this means it wasn't made by leaving blackstrap out in the sun, but through controlled fermentation with a good yeast.

A premium rum has a low distillation, barrelling, and bottling proof. If you've succeeded in getting a wash with a nice flavor, keeping these low will ensure the flavor will make it into the rum.

Blending is fine, if it enhances the end rum. It shouldn't be quality rum stretched with "filler" rum. Aging is also a plus, once again, until it no longer increases the quality of the spirit. A 70-year-old rum may sound impressive, but it probably doesn't taste very good.

[Rene]

A premium Rum (for me) is a product that is made according to the highest standards. The name should reflect the Rum and not its marketing. Barrel ageing for more than 3 years, Barrels should not be to big (max 50-55 gallons). Not Blackstrap molasses. Things like that.

These things should be the same everywhere. Otherwise the name adds nothing to its official name, since everybody uses it in a different way. They do it with Whisky (malt) and Cognac, so why not with Rum.

[Kristian]

Standardising the requirements for rum, in the way they are for coqnac and whisky, is relatively hard because there are so many different countries producing rum, with different legislative systems.

In my opinion, premium rums should, indeed, be well aged rums (minimum of 6-8 years for molasses-based, minimum of 4-5 years for cane juice -based), aged in small patches and blended only with the same age or older rums.

But trying to get all the producers united behind a single system will be hard. The point is to get them to see the benefits of such regulation.

[scubadoo97]

A premium rum is one that I can drink neat and has a complex wonderful taste

[VoodooDog]

(first post)

I've always tried to use words and phrases as the actually defined and not the way marketing droids would use them.

PREMIUM

adj : having or reflecting superior quality or value

So a premium rum would be very very good at any price OR very much worth the money.

BOTH of these are subjective. I would say premium would mean that if most RUM DRINKERS feel that it is superior in quality OR value, it is a premium rum.

Why just rum drinkers? For the same reason I could not pick a premium gin. *I* would pick the ones that taste least like gin.

[Bill Poster]

I think rums should have a 'mark' to show they are of a certain standard, not like a rum award, more like a michelin star. There should be a criteria set , and each year the rums are re tested to retain the mark. Easy.

[Rene]

I think rums should have a 'mark' to show they are of a certain standard, not like a rum award, more like a michelin star. There should be a criteria set , and each year the rums are re tested to retain the mark. Easy.

←

This is a quote that I like.

Some people say (in a way) they want the taste to be premium. What is a premium taste? That is to much subjective.

Some people might say it is impossible to regulate the Rum world, because Rum is made everywhere. Well, so is Whisky and wodka. There are rules for those. Especially Whisky has a big control on their rules. That is the difference. It might be difficult to regulate Rum a bit more, but not impossible.

The word "impossible" is a wrong word here. Everything is possible and even the biggest journey starts with one step. If people would have used the word "impossible" thousends of years ago, we would still live in caves.

[Ed Hamilton]

While there are those who would everything to conform to their rules, consider that most of the world's whisk(e)y is made in about six countries. Rum on the other hand is made in more than 20 countries, and that's just in the Caribbean.

In my mind, forums like this are much better at spreading accurate information about my favorite spirit than any book, and I've written more books on rum than anyone I know. I will be rating rums in the future but even I don't see that as the definitive word on quality. Distillers and bottlers are continually changing their processes. And we can only hope that the quality is improving, but we all know that change isn't always good.

[VoodooDog]

In my mind, forums like this are much better at spreading accurate information about my favorite spirit than any book, ...

←

On that note...

I have a suggestion for this forum. We all have different tastes. It would be useful to know if the person you are taking advise from shares your tastes in rum, or is at least close. If we could have a 'pinned' thread that allowed each member to list his or her rum expriences, favorites, and... not-so-favorites, I think the forum as whole would benefit.

Also we could use it to get a consensus or a ranking of various rums.

To make it work, each person would need to be limited to ONE post. *AND* the thread would be void of ANY debate or crosstalk. Just post what YOU know about YOUR experiences. The one post rule should not be a problem as each person can freely edit thier own posts as thier experiences/tastes change.

What do you think?

[LunaSea]

Price is certainly not always a good indicator of premium rums. I can refer you to a bottle of Sea Wynde rum from Jamaica that I purchased for $90, which I find to be tough to sip straight (maybe that's because it's 46% alcohol). Pyrat Cask 23 is my personal favorite sipping rum ($185 a bottle from the factory in Anguilla) but a VERY close second in my opinion is Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 year old (Guatemala) that sells locally in Florida for around $40 a bottle. Planter's Gold (Anguilla) is also a very fine sipping rum and it sells for just under $40 a bottle.

I look forward to reading your ratings Ed.