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What is it with rums, anyway? Whisky drinkers may or may not like rums for its sweet notes. However, rums are popular amongst many, and it is understandably so. Whisky makers are also increasingly using rum casks to age whisky to capitalise on the sweet notes that rums are famous for.

What is Rum?

Rum is made from either sugarcane juice or sugarcane by-products such as molasses through a process of fermentation, distillation and ageing in oak barrels. The method of making rums is similar to whisky; the difference is in the ingredients. Most of the world’s most famous rums are from the Caribbeans and Latin America. However, there are many other countries which produce rums, such as Japan, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

Rums have different grades. Typically, there are three grades of rums, light (white) rums, dark rums and spiced rums. They are consumed or used in different ways depending on the style that they are made. For example, dark rums are usually consumed on the rocks, or neat, or in a cocktail. Light rums are commonly only used in cocktails, but in modern times, some premium light rums are also drunk on the rocks.

Rum has connections in the maritime industry as it was used as a form of medicine in the past for the armies as well as the pirates.

Rum Grades

While there are typically three grades to categorise rums, the grades and variations in describing rum dependents largely on the location of its origins. These are some of the most frequently used terms to describe rums.

• Dark Rums: These are identified by their colour, usually in brown, black or dark red. Made from caramelised sugar or molasses, they are generally aged longer in heavily charred oak barrels. The production methods give these rums stronger flavours of molasses or caramel together with a hint of spice. They provide the strong characteristics of rum in cocktails and are also used for cooking. Most dark rums come from Jamaica, Haiti and Martinique.
• Gold Rums: Also known as “amber rums”, these are medium-bodied rums. They do not age as long as dark rums but still retains the strong flavours of an aged rum. It is midway between dark rums and light rums.
• Light Rums: Also referred to as “silver” or “white” rums, they have very little flavours besides some sweetness. Light rums are sometimes filtered after ageing to remove their colouring. The milder tastes of light rum are perfect for cocktails, even though their lighter colour and flavours are not used in rum-based drinks. Most of the light rums come from Puerto Rico.
• Spiced Rums: Spiced rums are processed rums with spices and sometimes caramel. Most spiced rums are processed gold rums. The more affordable brands could be made of white rums with the addition of caramel and spices. Some of the spices used in these rums are rosemary, aniseed, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and cardamon.

Other Types of Rum Categories

There are also other varieties of rums that are lesser known, such as the flavoured rums and premium rums.

Flavoured rums are fruits-infused liquid and generally less than 40% abv. They are used for flavouring in cocktails and sometimes, drunk on their own.

Premium rums are a class above the rest of the rum categories. Similarly to premium whiskies, boutique brands craft them with more flavours and characters. They are generally consumed neat or on the rocks.

Rum’s Production Methods

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The production methods differ widely in the rum industry. The traditional styles of a particular locale determine the production method. Nonetheless, rum is made through a similar process as whisky. Rum producers also ferment the basic ingredients – molasses or sugar cane juice using yeast and water before distillation and ageing.

Molasses, the by-product of sugar cane, is the most common ingredient used to make rum. Some producers use sugar cane juice, notably from the French-speaking islands in the Caribbean. A rum’s quality is highly dependent on the quality and the variety of the sugar cane used. In turn, the quality of sugar cane is dependent on the soil and climate it grows in. Therefore, it is usual for rums to differ widely in quality in different places of origins.

Fermentation

Molasses (or sugar cane juice), yeast and water are the three ingredients for fermentation to take place. There is variation in the yeast used as well. Some producers use wild yeast, but most of them use a particular strain of yeast to ensure a consistent taste and stable fermentation time. The yeast used is essential as it will determine the final flavour and aroma profile. Lighter rums use quick yeast while the more flavourful ones tend to use yeast that is slower.

Distillation

There is no standard distillation method. Some producers who make small batch rums use pot stills while most producers use column stills for distillation. The only difference between pot stills and column stills distillation is that pot stills create fuller flavoured rums.

Ageing and Blending

Interestingly, most rum-making countries require producers to age their new-make rums for at least one year. The ageing is done in a charred, ex-bourbon oak barrel or a stainless steel tank. The ageing process gives rum its colour. It becomes dark when aged in an oak cask and remains colourless if aged in stainless steel tanks.

Due to the warm climates in most rum-making countries, rum matures much faster than whisky. The angels’ share of rum is also higher. It goes up to as much as 10% in tropical countries!

The final step in rum-making is to blend the rums for consistent flavours before bottling. Parts of this blending process include filtering light rums to remove the colour taken from oak casks and adding caramel to adjust the hue of dark rums.

Rum and Whisky

It appears that rum and whisky have nothing in common when you first started reading, but it turns out that they have a lot in common. While the production methods differ, the general idea of fermentation, distillation, ageing and vatting (blending in the case of rum) is similar. In a modern world where traditional sherry casks are getting more expensive, it is no surprise that whisky makers are turning to other alternatives such as port casks, rum casks and wine casks for whisky maturation.

Rum casks infused a sweet overtone to the whisky and gave a robust body to it. We enjoyed some rum cask-finished whiskies, like the Glenfiddich 21 years old.  If you love rums as much as you love whisky, be sure to give them equal attention as whisky makers who use rum cask for their ageing depend on you to drink more rum!

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We visited Barbershop and its awesome manager, Fab Arm on an idle Thursday night after the Trump-Kim summit. We were looking for a beautiful place to chill and enjoy some live music, so, we thought – Timbre or Barbershop. Since Barbershop generally serves what we need for the night (read: whisky), we decided to head over for pizza and whisky.

It was quiet when we reached around 7-ish in the evening. Two groups of working executives occupied a couple of tables. Choc and I took the corner high table (because we like secluded spots that remind us of Sentosa the area). We took a look at their menu, and we were astounded! Not only were the prices reasonable, but the range of whiskies also expanded tremendously! Wow, we were pleasantly surprised as Fab was still working on his list the last time we came.

Before we ordered, Fab came along to say hi! We haven’t seen him for a while now, so it was a great moment to meet again and catch up finally. It was indeed Fab’s hard work that contributed to that massive and impressive list of whiskies on offer at Barbershop! We were excited to wet our lips after learning that Fab curated more whiskies from what we understood from before!

Dinner was served

Half and Half Pizza

I was a fan of Timbre and its food, so I know exactly what we need to order. A half and half pizza to share between both of us. It was a little greedy because the pizza could feed at least three persons, but we were hungry that night. A roasted duck combined with a Yakiniku Chicken sounded like a perfect fit for two hungry and greedy persons!

Fab came along with his whiskies and rum, of course. First up, we tried a wee bit of the Speymalt Macallan 1998 (19 years). It tasted almost identical to the official bottling of the old Macallan 18 years old. The only exception is that the Speymalt is slightly more spicer than the official Macallan 18 of old. Next up, we had a wee taste of an interesting rum. Bottled by The Whisky Agency & La Maison du Whisky, it hails from Sancti Spiritus Distillery in Cuba. Exotic as it is, this rum is approachable and frisky. There was also a Linkwood 15 years old Sherry Cask by Gordon & MacPhail, but we find it too light for our liking.

We ended up with the Speymalt and the Sancti Spiritus rum as a pairing to our duck and chicken pizza. Haha…it was an innovative experience, but I thought the Yakiniku Chicken went very well with the Macallan.

Speymalt Macallan 1998

Speymalt Macallan 1998

I tried this Speymalt Macallan 1998 previously at WhiskyLive 2017 and found it to be less than desirable. Perhaps the previous bottle was aired too much, or maybe I was just not sober enough to detect the notes. However, trying this again a second time gives me a different perspective. The nose is full of dark fruits, dark chocolate, raisins and bits of oakiness. Pretty much like an old bottle of the Macallan 18 years old. The palate is dark chocolate, raisins, sultanas, woodiness and under it all, a dark fruitiness that balances the entire taste. The finish is long, with raisins and dark fruits lingering all the way.

I like Macallan in the past and love the complexity that the old bottlings offered. The modern batch appears to lack something, and I thought that it requires the love that used to go into every bottle. Perhaps I am wrong, but that’s how I feel. Therefore, I was glad to find this Speymalt Macallan. It was like an old love, reignited.

The Whisky Agency x La Maison du Whisky (Sancti Spiritus) Aged Rum 18 Years old

Sancti Spiritus 18 Yrs Old

Sancti Spiritus Rum is the first rum that I drank which does not turn me off immediately with its overpowering sweetness of caramel and toffee. Interestingly, the rum is full of its original character – sugar cane. The nose is full of subtle sugar cane sweetness, and a hint of strong spirit underneath the sweetness. Bottled at more than 60% abv, it is hardly surprising that the spirit within is flexing its muscles. The palate is biting, but the sugar cane sweetness covers it almost immediately. The taste mellows as I left it on my tongue. The sugar cane sweetness develops into a robust minty note as the spirit disappears, almost as if you have just eaten a mint drop. The finish gets oaky as the cask begins to talk but nothing overpowering. The mintiness lingers all the way to the end of the medium to long finish.

More whisky? Of course!

After all the “hard work”, we deserved yet another dram, don’t we? Once again, Fab showed his perfect hospitality with more wee tastes of another two different whiskies. First up is an Auchentoshan from Signatory Vintage. It is worthy to speak more about this whisky because it is what Auchentoshan should be when it grows up! I need to shout this off a rooftop: “Un-chillfiltered Auchentoshan is like a Rosebank!!” Yes, I am not kidding. Seriously, the Auchentoshan we had was fabulous!

The last wee taste we had was a Wilson and Morgan Bunnahabhain. Matured in a sherry cask, it is a relatively sweet Bunny! It is not fair to the Bunny though, because both Choc and I had fallen in love with the Auchentoshan.

Signatory Vintage Auchentoshan 1998 (17 years; cask 102359 &102360)

SV Auchentoshan 1998

When I first nosed this un-chillfiltered Auchentoshan, my first thoughts were, “wow, this is the full Lowland character that was lacking in the regular Auchentoshan.” As I subject the whisky to more nosing, the grassy and floral notes begin to resemble a bourbon-matured Littlemill expression that I had previously. The first taste is pure bliss as the floral notes explode in the mouth into a subtle fruity sweetness. The dry grassiness stays in the mouth even as I swallow. The finish is long and dry, with the dry grass filling the palate thoroughly.

I aired this Auchentoshan for about 15 minutes and what appeared caught me by surprise! It smells like the Rosebank 12 years old that I had at Swan Song! Omg, a second sniff confirms it. It smells like a Rosebank!! I quickly took a sip of the liquid. The palate is mellow, sweet fruitiness combined with a dry grassiness without overpowering each other. A subtle oakiness from the cask comes through at the end of the tongue, and with just a little peppery spice at the back of the throat. Again, this is similar to the Rosebank 12, but of course, the Rosebank 12 is more flavourful, and the notes are more prominent. The finish is long and dry, leaving me wanting more.

The best dram of the night

We got to admit that we called it a night after the Auchentoshan 1998 because we wanted to savour the flavours for as long as we want. Besides, each pour at Barbershop is 40ml, and we already had 160ml between us. Time to call it quits when we were still alert and sober!

Naturally, the best dram of the night was the Rosebank 12 Auchentoshan 1998! I think my life is quite complete now because I finally know how un-chillfiltered Auchentoshan taste like. My guess is right – it showcases all the right Lowland characters at its natural best.

Thank you, Fab, for showing us how Auchentoshan can shine! For those of you who want to visit Barbershop, give Fab a shoutout when you go, and he will treat you well!

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Have you heard of Diageo Bar Academy? It is the training arm of Diageo and it strives to build up the professionalism and knowledge of all bar owners, bartenders and almost anyone who is interested to learn more about the bartending industry. Geek Flora has the privilege to meet one of the Diageo Bar Academy (DBA) directors, Mr Lam Chi Mun, during the visit to ProWineAsia 2018 and she managed to arrange for a chit-chat session with Mr Lam at Diageo Bar to understand more about what DBA is all about.

Training as the Backbone

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DBA builds its backbone with the professional training that it is famous for. The Academy has a structured portfolio and courses that build up from one another to give a person the necessary training he or she needs to become an outstanding bartender in the global bar scene. In Singapore, many courses are available to the bartenders and they are able to gain access to many resources within the DBA’s courses.

In recent years, DBA also recognises the need for the common folks to learn more about the drinks they enjoyed. The Academy, therefore, opens an online portal where anyone who has an interest in bartending will be able to sign up and take their online courses at home for free. DBA’s structured courses allow the participants to understand basic steps in bartending and also to become his or her own bartender at home.

Moreover, if anyone is interested in opening a bar, DBA also provides training in the Business of Bars, where the owner or the team members can attend to better equip themselves with the knowledge of running a bar efficiently.

Know Your Liquid

Besides training, DBA also offers up other valuable information nuggets. For those who want to know more about the different liquids, DBA has what you need. You can pick your choice of liquid – Scotch whisky, vodka, gin and even baijiu – and DBA has the low-down for you. With a brief introduction of the liquid and its production to how it can be served, DBA’s knowledge vault is perfect for a knowledge-hungry you.

Bar Tools

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In our opinions, one of the best things that DBA offers is the downloadable bar tools available on its website. From Facebook headers to festive menus, DBA offers a quick and easy way for bars to get a funky and attention-seeking menu for almost any occasion. It saves bar owners the time and efforts to come up with something new, and also help to reduce the operating cost of the bars with its ready-to-use tools.

World Class Competition

Most of us have heard of World Class Competition, but we are just not within the industry to truly understand the prestige that comes with it. It is possibly the reason why DBA started as Diageo wanted to help young bartenders around the world to grow their knowledge and, eventually, take part in the World Class competition.

That is the reason why DBA seeks out WSET to collaborate to build upon professional certification. WSET is an organisation based in the United Kingdom with a huge presence in many countries. With its reputation in the alcohol industry, WSET is the perfect organisation for Diageo to work with.

And that is where Mr Lam Chi Mun comes in.

Introducing Mr Lam Chi Mun

Mr Lam is DBA’s Asia Pacific Director. He has an extensive career as an educator and spends much of his life, learning and teaching in the alcohol industry. Mr Lam is a pioneer in many of the industry’s initiatives and is also one of the first who took the WSET course in Wines and Spirits in 1988-1989.

When Diageo approached Mr Lam to work together, Mr Lam was in his 20th year as an educator in Shatec. One thing led to another, and Mr Lam decided to join Diageo in its quest for education. Mr Lam’s position in Diageo is unique. He is the Asia Pacific Director in DBA, but he also works with WSET to bring forth training materials for the global training programs.

A typical day of work for Mr Lam

We ask Mr Lam about his typical day at work, and well, we got quite a stunning reply from him! He shares that he split his day into various parts. One of them is creating contents for education through the different agencies that deliver the lessons for the global students. He also ensures that the contents which go online to the DBA’s portal are suitable for the audience. Additionally, he also handles some of the marketing contents on social media.

Another part of his job is a little harder. He travels extensively and visits partner bars in the Asia Pacific region to find out if bartenders and staff in the bars require training. This part of the job is challenging as he needs to figure out a suitable time for these bartenders to attend training as they are always busy with one thing or another within their job scope. Therefore, Mr Lam needs a lot of patience and plenty of organisational skills to work with bar owners to arrange training sessions for their staff.

Once he identifies training needs, Mr Lam organises suitable training programs. He does some of the training himself and leaves the rest to his team of capable educators.

An Interesting Part about Mr Lam’s job

What we find interesting about this part of Mr Lam’s job is also the fact that it entangles itself with sales. Diageo freely trains the bartenders of a bar that signs a contract to house its products, and in return, the staff of the bar gets free training. In our opinions, this is a win-win situation. The bar becomes a partner of Diageo and with the free training, the staff becomes knowledgeable and is able to help sell more. Diageo benefits from the higher sales too, as the bar will buy more from them. In this way, Diageo makes partners and help them prosper whenever they sign a sales contract. It is not a one-sided benefit but one where the other party wins too.

Courses available for the common folks

Speaking to Mr Lam also make us curious about the different courses available in Singapore. So, on behalf of all of you who wants to advance your knowledge of spirits in general, we ask Mr Lam for suitable courses to recommend. Here are some of the courses that are useful:

1. WSET Level 1 in Spirits
2. WSET Level 2 in Spirits
3. Diageo Bar Academy online courses

WSET Level 1 and 2 are available at Shatec and of course, the DBA’s online courses are available for anyone who signs up for it. For those of you who wish to start learning more, why not start with DBA’s online courses? They are designed for the busy folks who need to learn at their own pace so it is perfect for a start!

Live Webinar for Johnnie Walker Black Label

Talking about online courses, there is an upcoming live webinar for “Johnnie Walker Black Label and the Art of the Highball” on 26 June at 10 pm Singapore time (2 pm UTC). For those who wish to sign up and learn more about the art of making a perfect highball, you can register here. It is free so why not?

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What does port wines and whisky have in common? I am glad you ask. If you notice, port cask finished whiskies gained some reputation in recent years, as distillers experiment with port casks to insert variety into the whisky scene. What do we know about port wines? Most whisky drinkers who do not drink wine possibly know very little, so I think we must set it right because port cask finished whiskies are getting popular.

What is Port Wine?

Port is a fortified wine that is produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in Portugal. The Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto regulated port production massively through stringent rules. Producers of port wine must make, label and market their products in a specific way as stated by the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto. In this sense, port wine production is similar to Scotch whisky as the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) also controls and regulate the production.

Due to the rules in place for port wine, its authenticity is easy to spot. One simple rule of thumb to identify an authentic bottle of port wine is to look for a white seal that reads “Vinho do Porto Garantia” (see below).

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Port Wine Production

Port wine is what red wine wants to be when it grows up. Producers add aguardiente (which most referred to as “brandy”) into red wine to create port wine. The brandy increases the alcohol content to 20% abv on average and stops the fermentation process to preserves natural sugars from the grapes. The common term for this process is fortification. Interestingly, fortification also warmed the body and made port wine a good substitute for whisky in long, winter months.

Grapes are the essential ingredients of port wines. These grapes are Portuguese indigenous grapes, which make port wine so unique. Some variety of Portuguese port grapes include Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz (aka Tempranillo),  Tinta Cāo and Tinta Barroca. I understood from Wine Folly that there are at least 52 varieties in port wine! Each type of grapes gives different flavours to create a complex and flavourful end-product.

Types of Port Wines

Typically, there are two kinds of port wines – the barrel-matured port and bottle-matured port. Barrel-matured port made up 98% of all port wines while the remaining 2% comes from the bottle-matured process. All port spend some time in barrels, but bottle-matured port wines spend significantly lesser time in oak cask than barrel-matured port wines.

Bottle-matured port wines are rare with only exceptional vintages that age for decades in the bottles. These port wines are expensive and only sought-after by wine connoisseurs.

From the two kinds of port wines, producers split them into four main styles.

1. Ruby Port
2. Tawny Port
3. White Port
4. Rose Port

Here is an infographic to help you understand the flavours of port wines.

In general, a ruby port is deep-red in colour and includes the Vintage, Late-bottled Vintage (LBV), Crusted and Ruby Port. A Tawny port is barrel-aged with sweet nuts and caramel flavours. A white port is unique as it used white grapes such as Viosinho, Gouveio, Rabigato and Malvasia. Finally, a rose port is a new style in which the producer make port wine like rose wine with strawberry, violets and caramels flavours.

A Very Short History of Port Wines

The discussion on port wines make me curious about the history, and I discovered some interesting nuggets from Google. Port wines existed since 1678 in Portugal. Thanks to the fall-out between England and France, England restricted the import of French wines during the 1600s. Portugal and England, however, were buddies. The obvious supply of wine to England was Portugal, but the tricky part was keeping them fresh during transit. The solution was to add brandy to the wine. The export of the fortified wine shipped from the town of Oporto, and hence, the fortified wine was named “port”.

Port Wines and Whisky

There are many port-finished whiskies to choose from in today’s whisky scene. Some of the well-known Scotch is Balvenie 21 Portwood, Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban and Tomatin 14 Port Wood Finish. Most of these port-finished whiskies are flavourful and sweet, gaining fame amongst those with a sweet tooth. They are also popular with sherry lovers since they share some similar qualities.

While port casks are not yet as prominent in the whisky industry as sherry casks are, there may come a day when port casks become a necessary component in maturing whisky! Therefore, drink some port wines and do your part to create more casks for the whisky industry!

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