‘There’s nought so much the spirit calms as rum and true religion.’ Byron.
This week we’re talking about what is perhaps my favourite of the spirits, Rum. I should declare an interest: I live in the Caribbean, where it pretty much is the only thing drunk. I drink it, when at home on the verandah, like a whisky or brandy – aged and in a balloon glass, or alternatively if ‘liming’ (Trinidadian slang for ‘hanging out’) with soda or coconut water. Rum and Soda is the classic: it’s invigorating and energetic, and cuts straight through the heat of the tropical sun. Note that I’m talking about gold rum here, Mount Gay being the most commercially available example. White rums like Bacardi are too sweet and have little flavour. Dark or ‘navy’ rum is so disgusting that it beggars belief – it’s like drinking tar with added caramel and Tabasco. No, what I’m talking about, and what all rum aficionados are talking about when they mention rum is gold rum, and the aged stuff at that.
This article got me feeling slightly homesick, so I went down to the Grog Shop, a Jericho landmark. They had a selection of about six rums, all about the £15 mark and, as I write this, I’m sipping away at some Mount Gay ‘Eclipse.’ I’m a little disappointed actually: it’s very smooth but a little insipid. Of course, it’s their basic range (I’d recommend Mount Gay XO) and goes wonderfully with club soda, but it doesn’t have the depths, complexity or the lingering languidness of a first class rum. That’s what I’m hoping people will get from this. I’m hoping people will see a good aged rum as a match to a fine single malt or X.O. cognac. It’s much cheaper too. Our standard, everyday brands at home are the Guatemalan Ron Zacapa 15 year old, the Guyanese El Dorado 15 year old, and the Jamaican 21 year old Appleton Estate. The latter two should be fairly available at a good off-license, so please do keep your eyes peeled – you’re in for a treat.
