What is Rum? A Brief Overview from The Fareham Wine Cellar.

Rum, which is also known as Rhum or Ron, depending on where it comes from, is the resulting distillate or spirit obtained from fermented sugar cane or molasses.

Rum is mainly associated with many sub-tropical and tropical parts of the world including Central and South America, India, Australia and the Caribbean.

There many types of rums from light, delicate white rums to dark and rich barrel-aged styles and all styles in between. All must be at least 37.5% ABV but can be much higher.

The origin of rums can be broken down into 4 regions.

Rums from the English-speaking Caribbean

Jamaica - Rums from Jamaica are high in esters and are used in blending as well as being bottled on their own. One can find a wide range of rums from simple, white rums through to dark aged rums. Brands to look out for include Lemon Hart, Appleton and Myer's.

Guyana -Guyana produces alot of molasses and produces a softer style of medium and fuller bodied rums. Look out for Plantation Rum.

Barbados - Probably the home of some of the most famous rums in the world. Top names include Mount Gay, Doorley's, ESA Fields, Cockspur, Foursquare Spiced and RL Seales.

Trinidad & Tobago - One of the best producers of rum in T&T is Angostura, look for the Angostura "1824" 12 year old.

Anguilla - The best rum from Anguilla is the Pryat XO - it is a relatively light, golden rum and smells of apricots! Some of the rums used to blend Pyrat XO are over 40 years old.

Other English Speaking rum-producing islands are - Antigua, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Virgin Islands.

Rums From French Islands

Guadeloupe, Marie Galante and Martinique produce molasses and agricole based rums (agricole rums are made from freshly squeezed cane sugar. Rum is also made in Haiti - Rhum Barbancourt is made in Haiti and owes a lot to the original French producers and their know-how from making Cognac.

Martinique - The best producer in Martinique is Bally, who make agricole rhums. Being produced exclusively from sugarcane juice these rums retain a greater amount of the original flavor of the sugarcane. They produce Blanc, Ambre and Vieux or Vintage rhums.

Haiti - There is only one producer in Haiti - Rhum Barbancourt - their rums are produced and aged in a similar way to Cognac. The Rhum Barbancourt 5 Star Réserve Spéciale is a very good 8 year old.

Hispanic Carribean, Central and South American Rums

The rums from these countries tend to produce light rums, predominantly white and golden rums with terms such as anejo and reserve for the older rums.

Cuba - The most famous rum producer is Havana Club. They produce a variety of rums including a white, anejo and reserve. Best know perhaps in a Cuba Libre cocktail (rum and coke and maybe a squeeze of lime juice).

There is also rum made in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemale, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rica and Venezuala. Some traditional rum is made in Brazil but they mainly produce Cachaca, which is not strictly a rum as it is usually made with using grain or sugar syrup as well as molasses.

Other Rums from Around the World

There are many other rum-producing countries these include Australia, the Phillipines, India, South Africa and the French-speaking islands in the Indian ocean.

Australia - the most famous Australian rum is probably Bundaberg but the best rums are from Inner Circle. Produced using the pot still method, rather than the continuous distillation method used by other commercial rums.

Special mention should be made of Pusser's Rum, once the life-blood, and seaman's currency, of The Royal Navy. Made in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, it is actually a blend of rums from BVI, Guyana and Trinidad.