Rum is an old, ancient category of spirits. With its history dating back hundreds of years — to the 1600’s in Jamaica, and even further back, with spirits educator Mark Ridgwell making note of a fermented drink made by the Malay people thousands of years ago in his book, Spirits Distilled.
Yet today, there’s plenty of new rums arriving on the Australian market each year from companies big and small. We’re taking a look here at some of those new rums.
And what use is a rum if you don’t have a means of mixing it? We’ve also asked Karel ‘Papi’ Reyes for the specs of a couple of rum cocktails. The guy is Cuban, and has worked with rum his whole bartending career, so he knows what he’s on about — you can find him pushing rum at the otherwise gin-focused Sydney bar, The Barber Shop. We assume you’ve got the Daiquiri down — and if you haven’t, we suggest you ask Papi for his specs — so we asked him for a couple of aged rum drinks. He’s suggested the Presidente, one of our favourite stiired rum drinks, and the Chicago Fizz, a drink with a history that goes way back to the early 1900’s
Presidente
50ml Atlantico Reserva
15ml Martini Rosso
5ml dry curacao
Dash of Monin Pomegranate
Stir down all ingredients and serve up in a chilled coupette.
Adapted from a recipe provided by Karel ‘Papi’ Reyes.chilled glass. Garnish with a lime twist.
Papi says: “I like it because it’s complex, but simple; it’s got character. It’s a digestive classic of the Cuban people.”
Chicago Fizz
30ml Substation No. 41 Rum
30ml ruby port
15ml lemon juice
dash of sugar syrup
egg white
Dry shake all ingredients, then shake with ice. Strain into a Fizz glass, and top with soda water. No ice, please.
Adapted from a recipe provided by Karel ‘Papi’ Reyes.
New rums: the latest and greatest
Atlantico Rum Reserva
A solera-style rum blended in the Dominican Republic, the base of which is a combination of molasses-based rums and rums made from fresh sugar cane juice. Atlantico Rum Reserva offers up vanilla and oak aromas, is a drier-style on the palate, and has characters of tropical fruit and oak leading to a smooth finish.
The Reserva is also joined in the Atlantico Rum range by the Platino, which is a white rum with a lighter taste, hints of vanilla, and citrus, and by the Atlantico Rum Private Cask, which contains rums of up to 25 years old and has won a number of awards.
Artisan Handcrafted
Bacardi Carta Fuego
The newest addition to the Bacardi range of rums, Bacardi Carta Fuego is a spiced rum that comes in at 40% abv and with big upfront notes of cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg and other spices. It’s got some hearty oak character thanks to the use of torched oak barrels for its short ageing period, and is full and rich on the palate with a smooth, lingering finish.
Bacardi Lion
Beenleigh Copper-Pot Distilled Rum
Beenleigh has been producing classic Australian rum since 1884, and they’ve released a new rum to signify a reinvigorated emphasis on the brand: The Beenleigh Copper-Pot Distilled Rum.
Distilled, as the name would have you believe, in copper pot stills, the rum then undergoes ageing in former brandy and bourbon barrels for a minimum of two years before being blended. The use of brandy vats contribute some florals notes to the finished products, and there’s subtle vanilla and caramels thanks to the use of the ex-bourbon barrels.
Vok Beverages
Arcane Rum
Here’s a new batch of rums from the African island of Mauritius, somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Made from fresh sugar cane juice, it may not surprise you that Mauritius was once a dominion of France, as that’s the way French Caribbean rum producers have been making their rums — should we say rhum? — for centuries.
The Arcane Cane Crush White Rum undergoes its first distillation in Mauritius, before heading to Cognac, France, for a second time around the still. It makes for a sipping style of white rum, thanks to its aromatic and fruity character, and its smooth palate and finish.
There’s a number of other rums in the range, including a solera-style 12 year old rum, and a spiced rum, called Beach House Spiced.
Cerbaco
Substation No. 41 Rum
They’ve got one of the largest rum selections in the country, boasting more than 500 bottles of the good stuff on their shelves, and now the Breakfast Creek Hotel has released their very own rum, named for their rum bar, Substation No. 41.
It’s rich on the palate, smooth on the finish, and is a great ingredient for mixing with — like we have here in the Chicago Fizz.
SouthTrade