Luxury Rum on the Rise

Luxury Rum on the Rise
Sip these limited-edition, aged versions of the cocktail spirit on their own, without a beach umbrella in sight.
Elin McCoy
Bloomberg Markets Magazine

When I first tasted Bacardi’s $250 Facundo Paraíso XA rum in the New York Palace hotel’s library, it smelled like spice cake and left a deep, smoky tingle of brown sugar and butterscotch. I was impressed. It was as seductive as a single-malt whisky yet as smooth and sweet as a small-batch bourbon.

Rum’s image is still anchored in beach bar cocktails and spiced versions with a pirate or palm trees on the label, but makers of the spirit are increasingly pushing into the luxury business. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, sales of super-premium rum (more than $45 a bottle) rose 414 percent by volume in the U.S. from 2003 to 2014—10 times the growth rate of ordinary rum.
Following the example of other types of distillers, rum makers are producing limited editions of rare, long-aged blends, such as Paraíso, and small-batch and single-barrel bottlings. Rich, complex, and delicious, all are about as far from cheap mixers as you can get.

Bacardi tapped private family reserves for Paraíso and three other blends that debuted in New York at the end of 2013 and are arriving in Paris and London this fall. The Dominican Republic’s Brugal sourced its Papá Andrés Alegría edition for 2015 from the remaining 36 family casks kept under lock and key at the company’s warehouse.
Tropical temperatures speed up the aging process, so a 10-year-old rum is more like a 30-year-old Scotch. Older ones are more expensive because of evaporation during aging; 50 gallons are reduced to 5 over 23 years (the age of the oldest rums in Paraíso).

So far, there are only a few vintage-dated rums, mostly from Martinique, but retailers such as K&L Wine Merchants in the San Francisco Bay Area and Samaroli in Rome are hunting down and selecting single barrels to bottle.

For the most expensive examples, bespoke decanters are de rigueur. Angostura’s $25,000 Legacy comes in an Asprey-designed art deco crystal decanter with sterling silver topper; only 20 were produced.

Does the specific spot where sugar cane is grown make a difference to a rum’s taste? I’m dubious, but the idea taps into the same luxury spirits trend that brought us single-village mezcals. Earlier this year, Rémy Cointreau purchased the historic, 134-hectare (331-acre) Mount Gay plantation in Barbados for its brand of the same name and plans to create—what else?—a terroir rum.

TASTING NOTES

Ron Abuelo Centuria ($140) Launched in 2011 to celebrate the Varela family’s 100 years of rum making, it’s rich and spicy, with notes of coffee and gingerbread.

El Dorado 21-year-old Demerara ($100) Made in historic 200-year-old wooden pot stills, this rum smells of mocha and tobacco and has a velvety texture.

Facundo Paraíso XA ($250) Thick, concentrated, and subtle, this rum is finished in XO cognac barrels. The complex, heady Exquisito ($90) is almost as good.

Brugal Papá Andrés Alegría (2015) ($1,500) Created by a fifth-generation member of the Brugal family from rums aged in different types of casks, it’s light, silky, and subtle, with aromas of dried fruit and caramel.

Origenes Reserva Don Pancho 30-year-old ($250) Legendary Cuban distiller Francisco “Don Pancho” Fernandez made this sensual-tasting rum in Panama. Only 600 bottles were produced. E.Mc.

all i need is a $20 bottle of rum

So I am assuming that the beach umbrella is a no no when it comes to high end cocktails?  If that is the case then I am glad, because I have always found them a little tacky.  That said, I have always enjoyed my finer liquors, and rum is certainly high on the list.  I wish I had a little more money to devote to the more luxury brands.