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Light & Dark Rum

Rum

Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Rum has a rich and chequered heritage. At times it has been a commodity for trade, at other times it has stood in for currency. It has acted as medicine for ships’ crewmen, and the source of ruin for others. Rum has its roots in the Caribbean islands of the 14th century, and was first devised by the Spanish - eager to convert harvests from their sugarcane plantations into easily transportable profit.

The Caribbean was the perfect climate for sugarcane: hot, humid and moist, this overgrown grass thrived in plantations across the islands. The rum trade quickly found success in this new frontier. And where there was a thriving, lucrative business on the seas, there were bound to be pirates.

Ever since, the mention of rum conjures up images of its colourful history and swashbuckling adventurers. Early marketers picked up on this, developing branding to emphasise rum’s appeal as the hard-working, hard-drinkers’ sweet-toothed favourite.

From cane to bottle

After the sugarcane is cut and crushed, the resulting juice is heated and the crystalised sugar is removed. The by-product of this process is a thick, dark, syrupy substance called molasses, which is then fermented to form a clear ‘rum’ spirit. Light rum tends to have a very a short fermentation, sometimes only 24 hours. The result is a light, dry, slightly sweet drink, ideal for mixing. Dark rum can be fermented for upwards of three weeks, producing a much richer and more complex spirit. Interestingly, all rum is clear after fermentation - dark rum gets its colour from ageing in barrels and the addition of caramel, and since this is a sugar product, it is considered to be ‘natural colouring’.

From the dark and into the light

Rum comes to life in the time that it ages, and this is one of the biggest determinants of the final product’s flavour. In many countries all rum is required to be aged for a minimum of one year. White rums will be aged in stainless steel or very old barrels to ensure that as little colour is imparted into the drink as possible. Dark rum gets a host of treatments ranging from 25 years spent in ex-bourbon casks, to a single batch being split up into several different casks: some new oak, some charred on the inside, some ex-whisky or cognac casks and then the resulting rums are blended back together to form a rich and nuanced spirit. One other popular style of rum is Spiced rum, this drink draws much of its flavour from herbs and spices that steep in the rum. Some of the flavours infused include cinnamon, rosemary, pepper and ginger.