Rum on the rise: The best rums to taste test — plus some handy cocktail recipes

Name: Ti’ Punch
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: Lime wheel; 1 teaspoon cane Simple Syrup; 60 mls Rhum Agricole (e.g. Renegade Pearls)

With a host of excellent Irish rums on the market, it's time to forget what you think you know and embrace the rum revolution, says Leslie Williams

Rum on the rise: The best rums to taste test — plus some handy cocktail recipes — Rum has gained in popularity over the last ten years and Irish rum makers are producing some of the best of the bunch.

Sat, 01 Apr, 2023 - 02:00

Leslie Williams

Rum is making a comeback and outselling gin in many markets so it is time to get on board. Cocktail Bars such as 1661, Cask, and Paladar in Cork have an extraordinary range for you to try — one of my current favourites is 1661’s Headway made from Rum, Pear Eau de Vie, Caramel, Kaffir Lime and Sour Grain Soup.

Rum consumption in Ireland was once tied to a single cocktail —the Cuba Libre or “Rum and Coke” as we tend to call it. Simply add a shot of white rum to a highball glass full of ice, add a wedge of lime and top with your cola of choice.

Until recently Bacardi was the only rum brand any of us knew, not a global juggernaut but still family-owned but these days produced in Puerto Rico and Mexico following their exile from Cuba in the 1960s.

Bacardi deserves credit for keeping rum and rum cocktails at front of Irish peoples’ minds for example at music festivals — and I must admit to being partial to a glass of Bacardi Ocho over ice.

These days there are dozens of brands to choose from including many with an Irish connection and any good off-licence will (or should) have a selection of premium dark rums from the Caribbean, Americas and even Ireland for you to try.

What is rum?

Rum is simply defined as a spirit distilled from sugar cane juice (Rhum Agricole) or, more commonly, from molasses. Molasses is the thick dark syrup byproduct created when sugar cane is refined to create crystallised sugar.

The history of Rum is interconnected with commercial sugar production which gives it a rather dark past rooted in slavery and piracy. Sugarcane is native to various parts of southeast Asia but was introduced to China and India around 3000 years ago and into the Americas in the early 16th century. Columbus planted it on Hispaniola in 1501, it was in Cuba and Jamaica by the 1520s, and soon it was planted all over South America and became the major driver of the slave trade.

Enslaved people were likely the first to create rum as we know it when they distilled the molasses left over from sugar refining into alcohol. Rum’s fortunes have always been tied to the sugar trade so when beet sugar began to overtake cane sugar in the 19th century, the production of rum declined while gin and whiskey sales blossomed.

Different styles

Rum is mostly made from molasses, especially those from former English colonies such as Jamaica and Trinidad. These tend to be pot-still rums and richer tasting while former Spanish colonies such as Cuba and Dominica tend to make lighter styles using column stills (as used for vodka and grain whiskey).

Rhum Agricole is made from cane juice and is a particular specialty of Martinique, Guiana and Guadalupe, all of which are French Départments (you will find them pictured on your Euro notes). Rhum Agricole uses sugar cane juice from designated areas and is distilled using column stills, often according to strict French Appellation D’Origine rules just as for Bordeaux wine and Cognac. Rhum Agricole tends to be lighter and more grassy in flavour so is more suited to sipping neat or for lighter cocktails.

Brazilian Cachaça is not considered a rum but good ones can taste quite similar to Rhum Agricole. Cachaça is also made from sugar cane juice (in either column or pot stills) and is needed in your cocktail cabinet for making Caipirinhas, the classic Brazilian cocktail.

Within the above categories rum can vary in colour from crystal clear to a rich mahogany and taste light and fruity, toffied and creamy, or dark and spicy. Some are best sipped on their own or over ice and others are best kept for cocktails. Also don’t be fooled by the colour as white rums can be aged and it is easy to add colour to young rums.

Rum nations

From all over the world, these rums are excellent. All the brands are available from CelticWhiskeyShop.com which has by far the largest selection of rums of any outlet in the country. Any good local independent off-licence will stock at least a few of these.

Barbados: Mount Gay XO — €57 — fruity, creamy and smooth.

Saison Sherry Cask — €45 — Cognac and PX cask aged — fruity and complex with lingering pepper and spice.

Jamaica: Smith and Cross — toffee, citrus and spice — excellent but not always available.

Appleton Reserve — €61— made by Joy Spence, the rum world’s first woman master blender — banana, caramel and light citrus flavours.

Cuba: Havana Club — €28.50 — a great mixer for cocktails

Trinidad: Angostura 7 Year— €43 — cacao, vanilla and honey flavours.

Venezuela: Diplomático Mantuano, 8 years old, complex vanilla and raisins and spice.

Nicaragua: Flor de Cana 12 Year Old Centenaria €59.50 — chocolate and raisin flavours.

Australia: Plantation Single Cask 2009 — €77.50 — fruity and balanced — chocolate, vanilla and almond flavours.

Irish Rum

Ireland will never be warm enough to grow sugarcane but that hasn’t stopped several producers exploring the category either through ageing specially commissioned Caribbean made rum here, or importing raw materials to produce it in Ireland. Rum aged in a damp cool climate like ours takes on quite a different flavour to rum aged in a tropical climate.

Black’s of Kinsale

www.blacksbrewery.com

Sam and Maudeline Black can claim to be the first Irish rum distillers and launched their Black’s Spiced Rum in 2018 made from imported Sugar Cane Molasses and fermented, distilled and aged in oak barrels in Kinsale. The Blacks have been brewing and distilling in Kinsale since 2013 and this newspaper has recommended several of their beers and spirits over the years. The rum casks are also utilised for ageing Black’s Single Malt whiskey.

Black’s Spiced Rum is packed with hazelnut, vanilla and coffee notes with subtle spicing and works well neat, over ice or with a dash of high quality ginger beer. Black’s 2nd release is their Golden Rum which has more caramel and banoffee pie aromas and a lighter touch. Both are priced at €55 and available from CelticWhiskeyShop.com and Blacksbrewery.com.

Celtic Cask Daichead 2004 PX Sherry Finish Rum —€160

This premium rum from Celtic Whiskey Shop was made in 2004 in Panama and aged for 10 years there, plus a further 6 years on this side of the world before being finished in Celtic 30 Irish Whiskey ex-PX casks for 19 months. Dried fruits, char grilled pineapple, spice and woodsmoke.

Renegade Rum

Renegade Rum from the people behind Waterford Whiskey is the newest kid on the block as their rum only arrived in Ireland in February this year. Founder Mark Reynier is following the same ‘terroir’ approach as fine wine producers and as used in Waterford Whiskey where each bottling is the product of a single plot or farm.

Renegade Rum Études ‘Bacolet’ and ‘Pearls’ are the first two releases and made on the island of Grenada on specific plots. Both are Rhum Agricoles and made from fresh cane juice (rather than molasses) and although the current releases are very young, aged 2 years in a mix of Bourbon they show significant promise.

The Études Pearls is my favourite of the two with aromas of Acacia honey with a touch of golden syrup, a clean lively palate and lingering spicy citrus flavours.

Two Shores Rum

www.twoshoresrum.com

Two Shores was created by Jason Kidd who also created Blood Monkey Gin which has had good success. Two Shores is distilled in Central America aged in County Clare in ex-Irish Whiskey casks.

Two Shores Rum Oloroso Cask — €70 was distilled in Panama and finished in ex-Amarone and Oloroso casks — richly flavoured with light spice and caramel notes.

Copeland Overproof Rum — €56

From the Copeland Distillery in Northern Ireland, a blend of Dark rum from Barbados aged in Bourbon cask and rum distilled in Donaghadee in County Down aged in Pinot Noir and small Bourbon casks.

Fore Valley Golden Irish Rum — €49.00

Distilled in County Westmeath and aged in ex-Bourbon casks at the distillery. Treacle, cedar and spice flavours so perfect for a Dark & Stormy.

Something Different

Akal Chai Rum — €54.50

This was intriguing — made from high altitude single estate teas from India combined with various botanicals and then blended into a rich rum from Trinidad before ageing in ex-Bourbon casks. Dark caramel with spiky nutmeg and spice flavours and lingering vanilla and spice flavours and at 30% this is perfect for creative cocktails.

Ti’ Punch

From Oisin Wolfe, Paladar Cocktail Bar, Bridge Street, Cork - www.paladar.ie

Servings

Preparation Time

5 mins

Total Time

5 mins

Course

Side

Ingredients

Lime wheel
1 teaspoon cane Simple Syrup
60 mls Rhum Agricole (e.g. Renegade Pearls)

Method

Squeeze a lime wheel into a chilled rocks (Old Fashioned) glass and drop it in.
Add cane sugar syrup and Rhum Agricole and stir.
Serve on ice if preferred.

Corn ‘n’ Oil

A Barbadian classic cocktail. Falernum is a rum liqueur which tastes of ginger, vanilla and almond with notes of allspice and lime and is available in good off-licences