The effects of the still on the taste

[Soren Nielsen]

At a recent event, I had a chat with the main rum and whisky importer in Denmark. He mentioned that the Australian Inner Circle rum was still being distilled in Fiji and that they are currently in the process of moving the production to Australia (I could not find anything to support this on their website, so it may or may not be true).

Anyway, the importer claimed that they would use an entirely new still for their new production, and according to the importer, they had no concerns at all about how that would affect the taste of their products.

This surprised me since I know from whisky that the still itself is by many regarded to have substantial influence on the taste, and it is definately not something you would replace without considerable worries.

Does this not apply to rum distillation in the same way?

[Kristian]

As far as I know, the same concern applies to rum. At least Ron Matusalem rums changed considerably when they changed their production site a few years ago.

[VoodooDog]

First off, I don't know.

However, I would think the that still, if it is of the same type, would play very little in the change of taste compared to the change in WATER of the new location.

Compare if you will... Vodka. It is little more that pure alcohol diluted with water.

[Ed Hamilton]

The still is very important to the taste of the rum, but there are other factors that are equally important. Fermentation, skill of the distiller, water and, of course, the raw material.

I have not confirmed that Inner Circle is moving production to Fiji, which I find hard to believe since they own a distillery in Australia. This rumor, may have been born because they use molasses from Fiji in their Inner Cirlce Rum.

If Inner Circle is moving production from Australia to Fiji, the new still would be one of the least of my concerns.