It's still summer, we take more risks (because we have more time), and we try again at a blank session. of molasses (1st episode here). And here it is often nothing, sometimes everything; It's always interesting, sometimes very strange, but it's also the time to clean up your samples and make room for the next ones. The samples below have long been shunned, sidelined and even voluntarily forgotten. This space is dedicated to them, may they rest in peace...

There will be 8 of them, from various horizons, not always very white or very rum between neutral alcohol (cane alcohol) and molasses brandy and always with the same and eternal feeling of unfinished: why do the greatest houses release aged and then discolored white rums, why show so much contempt for white rum? When will we see a white Foursquare, a real one? an unaged Appleton or El Dorado? one day maybe... Ambassadors and other guardians of rum, it is time to take the second step on the road to the new classification, to take advantage of the awakening of consciences to establish this noble fight a little more... Happy reading, and good luck.

From a Mexican distillery (based in Jalisco) rather trendy Agave but which one day tried rum with the same recipe: a triple distillation. The distillery has reportedly been closed for 10 years now and no one seems to really know where tequila and rum come from...

Very fatty in appearance, our Plata offers aromas of vanilla and faded fruits: apple (cider), pear, pungent and tangy; plants (grass and I don't know what) and pickles (brackish profile). The mix is rather strange, a bit earthy, and not very (at all) rum in the end. And flat. And strange.

On the palate, it's once again quite strange (decidedly), not rum at all (still not), vegetal and muddy, sour and sweet... But what could it be? No matter how hard I look, I can't find it. The pickle is still there, as if sweet. No final, just alcohol. Pickle alcohol?

Not that it's unpleasant, but it's not rum, or else the triple distillation was done on another planet with genetically modified molasses. Honestly, I don't see, or it's a pickle distillate. Rating: 20

DeSilver White Rum / 40°  

We stop at nothing and now here is a spiced white rum. But not just any rum, beware: a white rum with "secret spices" in it; spices from St. Barth more precisely and therefore maybe luxury spices, who knows. We'll spare you the pirate story that accompanies the already very vague story of this bottle.

Oh no, we can't resist! This is the story of a pirate named DeSilver who during the 17th century made a rum a bit like this one to give himself strength and vitality. A kind of ancestor of Popeye in a way.

This pirate's coat is very thick and would even stick to his skin, it's very greasy.
On the nose, you immediately think that you may have discovered one of the secret spices, yes... Citror Sport Syrup! What do you mean it's not a spice? We would try lemongrass, but it looks so much like lemon syrup that "sport syrup" speaks a lot more, especially than "if you're strong, you're sport syrup..." » ; and it fits pretty well with the comm' around the pirate De Silver, right? Beyond a lemon diabolo, we also have a lot of mint but always in this syrup or even liqueur atmosphere and with its share of alcohol. A lemon/mint liqueur.

On the palate, it is soft and sweet, honeyed, alcoholic and astringent as if lemon peels had been left to macerate for too long with the syrup (and a lot of alcohol); very bitter and spicy (cinnamon, nutmeg). Not really rum again, not really good either. Dry and lemony finish, on alcohol (we almost cough), a lot of alcohol.

DeSilver would surely turn in his grave if he had one, and if he had ever existed. And even if Jacky probably wouldn't have had the same effect, it probably would have looked better... Rating: 20
Measured at the Anton Paar, that's the 40° announced.

Soldiers Bay Silver Rum / 40°

Launched in November 2013, it is a rum that comes from Antigua Distillery (home of English Harbour rum). Distillation takes place in a traditional copper column and the rum is filtered and diluted before being bottled at 40°. A real white, therefore, unaged.

The coat is very fat, the legs huge and the tears that precede excessively slow.
On the nose, the rum is very exotic, on a very ripe banana, cake batter, coconut flan, then a lot of vanilla, butter, caramel, pastry cream. Very greedy and quite heavy, on the sickening and with some notes of wet hay.

The palate is easy and creamy, on vanilla, caramel, coconut and dried lemon peel. A lot of bitterness too and warm spices that do not manage to hide the presence of alcohol that dominates and dries the mouth considerably. It will end on these dry notes of alcohol and a little coconut.

It is still surprising to find such marked notes on banks of molasses; A gourmet rum but by no means too excessive in the mouth, far from syrups. But a white that will have to be used, but probably not to be tasted neat. Score: 70

Glorious Revolution Rum / 40°

A white wine released in 2014 and which comes to us from England (Spirit Masters Ltd), made from molasses from Africa and the Americas. An artisanal distillation in a copper still with a capacity of 200 liters and made in Portugal (100% pot still, Pure Single Rum); fermentation is excessively long (14 days). Launched in 2014 in 50cl bottles, and without news since, it is a real molasses white rum.

The colour is crystalline and very fat, with a wide disc and XXL legs.
On the nose, the rum appears heavy and loaded, creamy and sweet: candy sugar, exotic fruits with banana, mango and dried coconut. There are candy rums, this one would be more of a cake rum where a bunch of other dried exotic fruits seem to come out of the glass (those little cubes in aperitif bags). Grass (mint) too and a pungent, rather rich profile, lemon zest and a little olive. The long fermentation and the distillation in a pot still are certainly not for nothing.

The palate is different, far from being oily or honeyed: it is quite soft and dry with an assumed vegetal side, more present than on the nose. This change is very surprising, even destabilizing. Fruit first, cane second, spices, molasses, grass, olive, it's out of the ordinary and it's a change from the aged and tasteless molasses whites, with signs of long fermentation (olive, fermented vegetable, heavy and vegetal smell). The finish is rather long, dry and entirely vegetal. The empty glass is reminiscent of the steamed artichoke.

There is potential in this rum that will undoubtedly have a hard time getting through to the average consumer, English one at that. Nice risk-taking, but a priori without follow-up... Too bad. Score: 76

Iceberg Silver Rum / 40°

"The only distillery in Canada that makes rum with 12,000-year-old water," "the world's purest silver rum." There's also an Iceberg Vodka if that can play a role? According to the manufacturer, this rum is made from 100% Demerara rum "aged in Guyana", and therefore not really white rum?

The colour is very oily and the ice is melting at the speed of global warming in Brittany. An old 'white' Demerara diluted with iceberg water, what does it look like? At first it's very alcoholic, dry and not very talkative. It doesn't look very old and especially very neutral. With several minutes of rest, we find brown sugar, toasted coconut and a little something of the white El Dorado (itself aged and then discolored). Not crazy but it's okay.

On the palate, it's honeyed and sweet, on brown sugar with always that toasted coconut, more citrus, vanilla and liquorice, notes of cinnamon. It's quite rich on the palate and much more interesting than on the nose, and it now looks like an aged rum as it is. The finish is quite short, warm and still on this sweet/toasty profile with the return of coconut.

A discolored aged rum that is close to the white El Dorado, but here with a few degrees higher than the original; It brings him more interest and it goes down pretty well even if he's not a blank. Rating: 68

Black Stripe White Rum / 40°

Another "premium" white rum that is not a rum: this one is sold as a "blending rum made from Canadian and imported rums aged briefly before filtration to discolor it".

A dress that is always greasy and looks like an old man, and even fatter than many old people (go figure).
On the nose, we still find a very (too?) greedy profile that bets everything on the cake batter (decidedly): mashed banana, coconut milk, vanilla sugar, baking powder, molasses, everything is there. It's heavy, not unpleasant but atypical and still boring in the end (with an air of 'déjà vu'), and with this impression of constantly finding the same markers but more or less heavy. Pastry chef, buttered.

On the palate it is honeyed, creamy, with a mixture of molasses, black licorice and exotic fruits. Warm and sweet, peppery with response, and a black licorice that gradually settles in until the finish, dry and sweet, but also spicy.

A liquorice rum with a beautiful richness despite a rather sweet and cloying side that settles in the mouth. But still not a white rum, the quest continues... Score: 67

L'Amitié White Rum /37.5°

The white rum of L'Amitié is heavy, with a rather fatty and sticky mood.
On the nose, it is totally non-existent, and I dare to hope above this glass that this is not a vision of the friendship that is shared with us, otherwise it would be very sad and we would be a finger away from tragedy, or even less. Waiting will give nothing, neither hope nor perhaps. And no matter how much I shake the glass in all directions and help myself to it, it will unfortunately not change anything. And at 37.5° it doesn't even smell like alcohol... The kind of imaginary friend, invisible in fact. "Superior Grade" as the bottle indicates? An internet source speaks of a nose of "hints of stinky sulphur and bad eggs obscure creamy mashed potato". no comment.

In the mouth, we find ourselves hearing our imaginary friend, and yes he speaks! Very heavy and sweet molasses, vanilla, caramel, liquorice. Oh no, he was whispering, but that's already it. Brown sugar and vanilla in a honeyed and caramelized whole, and a finish in the same tone, very short and dry, on alcohol.

An imperceptible nose and a more talkative but rather cloying and sweet mouth. Still not a rum to taste, or even to mix. Rating: 56

Chairman's Reserve White Label / 40°

After a plump colour worthy of the oldest rums, the rum gives off a sweet and refreshing smell of exoticism (white-fleshed fruits: banana but also apple, pear) (lemon zest). It's richer than average, less boring too but still not transcendent I'm afraid. A little glue and alcohol too.

The palate is oily and quite rich; on banana, caramel and vanilla (bis repetita); But it is also refreshing (lemon) and therefore seems less cloying than usual. But still sweet and dry. Some tannic notes and a fresh, clean, and disinfected (alcohol) finish.

The rest of the range (the real oldies) is good but this white denotes. Hoping to see a real white one day, because with the distillery's distillation arsenal there is bound to be a way to release something very interesting, and good. Score: 67

We close this session of molasses whites with a lot of disappointment and always its share of incomprehension. But let's keep the hope (we have to) that one day, some producers (not to wish all) will finally release real white rums! Especially those who boast so much about doing traditional distillation.... In the meantime, let's get back into shape for an imminent and necessary recovery.

To help you (and me) find your way around, regarding the notes:

90 and + : exceptional and unique rum, it is the best of the best
between 85 and 89 : highly recommended rum, with that little something that makes the difference
between 80 and 84 : recommendable rum
75-79 POINTS : above average
70-74 POINTS : in the low average
less than 70 : not very good

 

Review courtesy of DuRhum.com.

From the folks behind DuRhum, Velier, and more, comes a premium online marketplace for rum enthusiasts by rum enthusiasts! Do check out www.rowspirits.fr for more great content and iconic rums!