Although providing an exhaustive ranking of rums is too large a task, a distinction must be made between types of rum based on the raw material used:

• “Agricultural rum” (rhum agricole) is rum made from pure sugarcane honey, from sugarcane juice. Rums that fall under this category are considered the best by specialists.
• “Industrial rum” is rum made from molasses, which is a by-product of the sugar production process.

If we consider rum’s colonial history, it can be classified according to its origins with rums from the old Spanish, French or British colonies, which has resulted in three major schools of rum emerging over the years:

• The Spanish school: these include Dominican, Venezuelan, Colombian, Cuban, Puerto Rican and Guatemalan rums. They are aged using the Jerez “criaderas and soleras” system. Logically, these are the most widely sold rums in Spain.
• The French school: the main countries to produce rum in this category are French Guiana, Martinique, Haiti, Guadeloupe and Mauritius. These rums are aged using the “ullage” system.
• The British school: its main rum-producing countries include Barbados, British Guiana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Virgin Islands. Both static aging and aging using the “criaderas and soleras” system are used.

From these three schools, other more specific varieties of rum are born: white, black, golden, aged, old, spiced, sweet, light, ‘escarchado’, honey… But the most notable of all is “premium rum”, which is the best and most special.

The top rum brands select their best rums with the aim of obtaining a premium rum. Today, many people ask, “What is a premium rum?” Premium rums are those that have been produced using the best raw materials in line with the highest quality standards.

Conde Lumar’s rum is an XO Premium Rum of Dominican origin; an aged rum that has been produced using the best raw material, pure sugarcane honey, which has not had the natural sugars of the sugarcane extracted from it. It was uniquely aged: firstly in an American oak barrel and then in Spanish oak barrels that previously stored Pedro Ximenez sherry.

This long work process culminates in a sweet, pure, powerful rum brimming with caramelised nuances. It has an intense, complex and fruity flavour containing notes of vanilla, cocoa, toasted oak, burned sugar, toasted nuts and orange peel.

It’s the perfect rum, with a memorable, tremendously tempting aftertaste.

La entrada TYPES OF RUM se publicó primero en Conde Lumar.