I agree with this and rum does need to change this if it’s ever going expand its audience; but hear me out on this perspective. As someone who never understood whiskey collecting, rums poor styling is kinda what hooked me.
Everything I was buying for cocktails was wildly different and it made me want to hunt down every bottle I could. It …
I agree with this and rum does need to change this if it’s ever going expand its audience; but hear me out on this perspective. As someone who never understood whiskey collecting, rums poor styling is kinda what hooked me.
Everything I was buying for cocktails was wildly different and it made me want to hunt down every bottle I could. It became a quest to find these styles and names I’d read about and, in the beginning, couldn’t possibly imagine their taste, aromas, and impact to a drink until I tried them. And the surprises are still to be found - just last month a bartender gave me a taster of Uruapan Charanda and it blew my mind, tasting like two rums at once!
So part of me wants it to stay the way it is. Keep the mystery in what you’ll find with each new bottle… and if they do change it, I guess there’s always amaro to keep me hunting for new experiences
Thanks for the kind words, as well as your perspective.
As I see it, the more we can build understanding that rum is a vast category of many different styles, more good rums will be available to consumers. I can walk into a high-end grocery store and find 15 different Scotches and 20 different bourbons. But the rum section will have Malibu, Captain Morgan, Bacardi Silver, and if you're lucky, Mount Gay.
The language we use to describe a spirit reinforces public perception. Scotch has "single malt Scotch whiskey", while rum get shackled with white/gold/dark.
I agree with this and rum does need to change this if it’s ever going expand its audience; but hear me out on this perspective. As someone who never understood whiskey collecting, rums poor styling is kinda what hooked me.
Everything I was buying for cocktails was wildly different and it made me want to hunt down every bottle I could. It became a quest to find these styles and names I’d read about and, in the beginning, couldn’t possibly imagine their taste, aromas, and impact to a drink until I tried them. And the surprises are still to be found - just last month a bartender gave me a taster of Uruapan Charanda and it blew my mind, tasting like two rums at once!
So part of me wants it to stay the way it is. Keep the mystery in what you’ll find with each new bottle… and if they do change it, I guess there’s always amaro to keep me hunting for new experiences
Thanks for writing these articles :)
Thanks for the kind words, as well as your perspective.
As I see it, the more we can build understanding that rum is a vast category of many different styles, more good rums will be available to consumers. I can walk into a high-end grocery store and find 15 different Scotches and 20 different bourbons. But the rum section will have Malibu, Captain Morgan, Bacardi Silver, and if you're lucky, Mount Gay.
The language we use to describe a spirit reinforces public perception. Scotch has "single malt Scotch whiskey", while rum get shackled with white/gold/dark.