Lemon Flavored Rum, Petroleum Neutral Spirits, and the US Spirits Regulations

I often start writing a story only to realize it needs to be split in two so as to not overwhelm the poor reader. Such is the case in what follows. While writing about a well-known rum-related product, it became clear that the legal definition for various types of spirits in the US can’t be easily summarized in a few paragraphs. The details of spirit definitions may seem a matter solely for lawyers. But when passionate discourse about whether a rum (or other spirit) misrepresents its true nature, these distinctions matter.

With that in mind, let’s take a quick (I promise) spin through how the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Trade Bureau, aka the TTB, categorizes alcoholic beverages sold in the US. You may be surprised to learn that mint-flavored rum, cherry-flavored whisky, petroleum neutral spirits, the Brandy Stinger, and the Bloody Mary exist alongside bottled-in-bond bourbon and single malt scotch whisky in the TTB’s system.

Seeking Approval

The TTB must approve every alcoholic beverage sold in the US. The approval process includes the product’s producer or importer answering a few questions about the product and submitting all proposed label imagery to the TTB.

The TTB examiner examines the label and submitted information for consistency and assign a beverage type like “OTHER WHITE RUM” and associated numeric code to the application. The examiner also examines all wording on the label(s) and determines if all required information like health warnings, the age statement (if any) and alcoholic strength are present and follow TTB-approved phrasing. The TTB is notorious for rejecting applications, meaning the applicant may need to fix and resubmit the application, sometimes numerous times.

Once approved, the product receives a Certificate of Label Approval, or COLA, which goes into the TTB’s public records. The COLA records for all approved beer, wine, and distilled spirits can be searched on the TTB site: TTB Public COLA Registry Search.

Typical COLA record. Click “Printable Version” to see label images.

Among COLA’s details are:

• Who made or imported the product.

• The product’s class/type, e.g., “RUM GRAPE FLAVORED.”

• Images of all product labels — front, back, and elsewhere.

Being able to look up the COLA for any US-sold alcoholic beverage is incredibly powerful. The COLA records have full-resolution product label images and the beverage type — at least as declared by the TTB examiner. (It’s worth noting that a spirit can have different legal definitions in different countries. For example, an unaged cane spirit can’t be registered as “rum” in Australia.)

If we are to reasonably debate whether a product is or isn’t rum, we must start with how the product was declared in its COLA application. Some people will vociferously state that Malibu isn’t rum, but per TTB’s COLA approval, it’s not claimed to be rum. Whether it and similar products are marketed as rum is a topic for next time.

TTB Beverage Class/Types

The TTB class/type system uses numeric codes between 0 and 999 to represent each type of alcoholic beverage it recognizes. That code is part of the COLA. Each beverage type code also has an associated phrasing. For example, code 404 means “FLORIDA RUM WHITE.”

The beverage type codes for related beverage classes like whiskies, vodkas, and rums are (usually) found within the same numeric range. The topmost beverage classes have distinct ranges of 100 codes:

• 0-99 Wines

• 100-199 Whiskies

• 200-299 Gins

• 300-399 Vodka

• 400-499 Rums

• 500-599 Brandies

• 600-699 Cordials, liqueurs, specialities

• 700-799 Mixed drinks (cocktails)

• 900-999 Beer, agave spirits, neutral spirits, other

The beverage type code for every approved alcoholic beverage is in its COLA record. For example, Buffalo Trace Bourbon is 140 (“Straight bourbon whisky”) while Campari is 669 (“Other herb & seed cordials/liqueurs”).

The 600-699 range is where many spiced, flavored, and sweetened products hang out. Captain Morgan Original Spiced is 644 (“RUM SPECIALTIES”), Planteray Stiggins’ Fancy is 694 (also “RUM SPECIALITIES”), and Southern Comfort Original is 641 (“WHISKY SPECIALTIES”). As for codes 925 and 975 (“NEUTRAL SPIRITS – PETROLEUM”), your guess is as good as mine. Thankfully, there are no COLA records for any spirits with this designation!

The beverage type codes are useful when searching for COLA records. For example, to constrain your COLA record searches to just “STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISK,” you’d use 140 in the search parameters.

Some topmost beverage classes are divided into subclasses. For instance, whisky (100-199 has 10 subclass ranges:

• 100-109: Straight whisky and variations, e.g., STRAIGHT RYE WHISKY (102)

• 110-119: Bottled in bond whisky and variations, e.g., RYE WHISKY BIB (112)

• 120-129: Straight whisky and variations, e.g., STRAIGHT CORN WHISKY BLEND (123)

• 130-139: Whisky blends and variations, e.g., BLENDED BOURBON WHISKY (131)

• 140–149: Whisky and variations, e.g., OTHER WHISKY (FLAVORED) (149)

• 150–159: Scotch whisky and variations, e.g., SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY (153)

• 160-169: Canadian whisky and variations, e.g., CANADIAN WHISKY FB (161)

• 170-179: Canadian whisky and variations, e.g., IRISH WHISKY USB (178)

• 180-189: Flavored whisky, e.g., WHISKY CHERRY FLAVORED (185)

• 190-199: Other imported whisky, e.g., DILUTED OTHER IMPORTED WHISKY FB (197)

Editorial aside: the wording used in the TTB’s beverage type names strongly suggests they were initially defined before the 1960s. The defined beverage types are woefully out of sync with today’s distilled spirits taxonomy. For example, gin has the entire 200-299 range, whereas all tequila squeezes into two codes, 977 & 978, and cachaça doesn’t have a code of its own.

Into the Weeds

Tequila only has two codes because when the beverage type codes were defined, someone felt it important to distinguish US-bottled spirits from foreign ones. In the TTB’s naming system, “USB” means US-bottled, while “FB” means foreign-bottled. For example:

• 151       Scotch Whisky FB

• 152       Scotch Whisky USB

It seems simple, but there’s a third code in play:

• 150       Scotch Whisky

Which code might the TTB examiner choose for a particular COLA? Regardless of where bottled, they have two choices. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Look at all the different codes for “VODKA” that the TTB might choose from?

• 310       VODKA

• 320       VODKA

• 340       OTHER VODKA

• 350       VODKA

• 360       VODKA

• 370       VODKA

• 390       OTHER VODKA

Confusing, no? But it’s the rum beverage type codes that really boggle the mind.

TTB Rum Class/Types

I’ve long argued that the common ways of categorizing rum are effectively useless. The TTB class/type codes for rum lean hard into everything wrong with existing categorization schemes.

Below, I’ve lumped the TTB’s rum codes into five classes, along with commentary on each. To simplify things, I’ve combined related codes that differ only in where bottled. Thus, codes 461 and 462 appear together as:

• 461/462             JAMAICAN RUM WHITE FB/USB

Domestic Rum

This grouping contains rums made in the US, with specific subtypes for Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, and Florida. Each region’s rums are subdivided into white and gold types — a horrible distinction, but here we are.

• 400/410             US RUM (WHITE/GOLD)

• 401/411             PUERTO RICAN RUM (WHITE/GOLD)

• 412/412I            VIRGIN ISLANDS RUM (GOLD)

• 402/402I            VIRGIN ISLANDS RUM (WHITE)

• 403/413             HAWAIIAN RUM (WHITE/GOLD)

• 404/414             FLORIDA RUM (WHITE/GOLD)

Making US rum outside those regions? You only have two options: US. Rum (Gold) or UR.S Rum (White). No, that’s not a typo.

Rum Around the World (Foreign Rum)

Per the presumably very old TTB definitions, the only foreign rums worth calling out by their locale of origin are Cuban, Jamaican, and Martinican, plus “Guianan,” “Dutch Guianan,” and “French Guianan.”  In today’s terminology, the latter three are Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. The spelling suggests that these codes were defined before British Guiana (the colony) became a country (Guyana) in 1966.

What about foreign rum not from the above countries? The only code that makes sense so far is 450 (“FOREIGN RUM.”)

• 450       FOREIGN RUM

• 451/452             CUBAN RUM WHITE FB / USB

• 453/454             CUBAN RUM GOLD FB / USB

• 461/462             JAMAICAN RUM WHITE FB / USB

• 463/464             JAMAICAN RUM GOLD FB / USB

• 471/472             GUIANAN RUM WHITE FB / USB

• 473/474             DUTCH GUIANAN RUM GOLD FB / USB

• 475/476             FRENCH GUIANAN RUM FB/USB

• 481/482             MARTINICAN RUM WHITE FB/USB

• 483/484             MARTINICAN RUM GOLD FB/USB

However, it’s the presence of Cuban rum in the codes that’s particularly odd, as Cuban rum hasn’t been legally importable since the 1962 embargo. Never fear, though, Cuban rum lovers! Currently, at least 14 active COLAs use a Cuban rum code. I’ll defer commentary on how this came to be for later. Among the Cuban coded rums:

• Matusalem Gran Reserva 2023

• Rhum Saint-James Vieux

• Real McCoy Distiller’s Proof 5-Year

• Novo Fogo Single Barrel Cachaca

• Ron Abuelo 7

Click the links above to see the actual TTB record for each “Cuban” rum or enjoy the snippets below.

Neither Cuban, nor white.

Flavored (and Glavored) Rum

This grouping contains flavored rums, although the TTB’s ideas about which flavors might be applicable are … odd. Grape is an option, but coffee isn’t, for example.
The TTB COLA database currently contains six lime-flavored rums, nine lemon-flavored rums, six cherry-flavored rums, and two chocolate-flavored rums.

• 430/441             RUM FLAVORED (BOLD) / FLAVORED RUM (BOLD)

• 431/442             RUM ORANGE GLAVORED / RUM ORANGE FLAVORED

• 432/443             RUM GRAPE FLAVORED

• 433/444             RUM LIME FLAVORED

• 434/435/104    RUM LEMON FLAVORED

• 435/105             RUM CHERRY FLAVORED

• 436/106             RUM CHOCOLATE FLAVORED

• 437/107             RUM MINT FLAVORED

• 438/108             RUM PEPPERMINT FLAVORED

• 449/499             DOMESTIC FLAVORED RUM / IMPORTED FLAVORED RUM

Those paying close attention might have raised an eyebrow that “RUM ORANGE GLAVORED” is a defined type. Despite the (apparent) typo, there are currently 8 COLA with that code, including Captain Billy’s Apple Pie Rum. (Go figure.)

Orange Glavored Rum (?)

Beverage type codes 104-108 fall within the whiskey codes range (100-199) but are noted as flavored rums, e.g., 104 “Rum Lemon Flavored.” However, no COLAs with those codes are found in the current TTB database.

The Others

This grouping is all rum types with “OTHER” in their name. They seem like a catch-all for rums that don’t fall into a more specific definition. However, this creates significant ambiguity.

For instance, English Harbour, a “gold rum” from Antigua, could use code 450 (“FOREIGN RUM”), 419 (“OTHER RUM GOLD FB”), or 459/490 (“OTHER FOREIGN RUM”). COLA applications submitted by Park Street, the brand’s current importer, were assigned 459 (“OTHER FOREIGN RUM”) by the TTB. However, the COLAs for the brand’s previous importer were assigned 493 (“OTHER RUM GOLD FB”).

• 409/440           OTHER RUM (WHITE) / OTHER WHITE RUM

• 491/492           OTHER RUM WHITE FB / USB

• 419/493/494    OTHER RUM GOLD FB/USB

• 459/490           OTHER FORIEGN RUM

• 439/445           RUM OTHER FLAVORED

Diluted Rums

The final grouping is a seldom-seen curiosity. While the US regulations for whiskey, gin, rum, etc., have minimum bottling strengths (typically 40% ABV), it is legal to sell a spirit below that strength if it’s declared as diluted, e.g., “diluted whisky,” “diluted rum,” and so forth. TTB ruling 75-32 has the full scoop.

In case you’re wondering, there are several dozen COLAs for diluted rum. While some are legitimately diluted below 40% ABV, others, like one Ten To One COLA, appear to have wandered to the wrong side of the tracks. It’s an easy mistake to make when applying for a COLA, as nearly all rum has water added after distillation.

• 447/448             DILUTED RUM (WHITE) / (GOLD)

• 495/496             DILUTED RUM WHITE FB / USB

• 497/498             DILUTED RUM GOLD FB / USB

A Diluted Rum label in the TTB COLA database. Note the ABV.

A “normal” rum erroneously encoded as “Diluted Rum” in the TTB COLA database.

Why This Matters

By now, it should be astoundingly clear that the TTB, the government entity responsible for regulating US spirits, has an antiquated categorization system.

I’m quite sure that the TTB’s COLA examiners are overworked and under pressure to keep up with a flood of incoming applications. But this is how we get approvals for “Cuban” rum from Barbados and a “sugar beet “rum” (Here’s the now surrendered COLA.) Producers and importers applying for a COLA have little control over what beverage type code the TTB will choose. It’s quite common for a COLA to have little connection to reality, and producers/importers have to simply deal with it.

Nonetheless, this is the regulatory system that the US uses, and everyone must play by its rules.

Returning to my original point, we can’t have a serious conversation about products that seem to straddle beverage type boundaries without understanding what the manufacturer said it was while the TTB examiners are watching. In a subsequent post, we’ll return to the above concepts while examining the controversy surrounding a popular brand in the rum space.