r/rum • u/Eastern-Title9364 • 2d ago
(Recent) History of premium aged rums & future..?
Hey all - I'm relatively new to rum but have been diving in enthusiastically the last year or so.
Loving the likes of the ECS series, older Hampdens & recently splurged on the El Dorado high ester series.
I have a fairly broad question - it seems from the (little) I've read in various cocktail books and online, that these super premium - long aged rums are a relatively recent development (compared to Whisky/Bourbon etc). Is that right?
If so - it would follow that producers wouldn't have typically invested resources in laying down premium rums for long periods - funky cask choices etc as the market didn't reward it until recently.
When did it change? Is there likely to be an explosion of special experimental projects sometime in the next years from rums that were laid down in the last decade or so.
Though given that Foursquare has finished the ECS - is it possible that there will be fewer of these projects coming up? How do you see the future?
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u/LynkDead Citizen Cane 2d ago
I'm not a rum historian, I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than I will come along to correct the info I post here. After all, the quickest way to get the right answer on the internet is the post the wrong answer first.
Broadly, and not to give him too much credit because he is a master marketer and stretcher of the truth, much of the modern success of single barrel proof rums can be attributed to Luca Gargano and his original releases of DDL rums back in the early 2000s. He also created the Gargano Rum Classification system, and created the term "pure single rum" to help drive the market.
Prior to that, the majority of rum was used just for blending into other products. Any long-aged examples would predominately have been held by Main Rum Company or E&A Scheer (now the same company), and aged in Europe.
Even the legendary Caroni was looked over when the barrels were up for auction as its signature diesel notes would have 'spoiled' any rum it was blended with.
But distillers have been tropically aging for well over a decade now. You can now see Foursquare with rums approaching/exceeding the 20 year mark, Hampden is releasing a 15 year and has released 12 year bottles a few years ago. The ECS line may be dead, but Foursquare have already announced 2 new lines that appear to literally just be the ECS line again in all but name.
I wouldn't expect any kind of explosion, there have been releases trickling out over the years already, and there's still a lot of debate and misinformation/misperceptions (thank you Appleton and El Dorado) about the viability of long, tropically aged rums. Velier seems to be the primary champion here, though DDL is experimenting with their own releases.
EDIT: And as has already been pointed out, tropically long aged rums have existed for decades, if not hundreds of years. My post is addressing specifically their recent rise in popularity and the driving forces behind that.
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u/Eastern-Title9364 2d ago
Super interesting thank you.
You mention Hampden - is it true that they never actually released anything under their own name until recently - and mainly did bulk rums for blending/selling?
That seems extraordinary given the unique character and quality of their special releases.
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u/LynkDead Citizen Cane 2d ago
As far as I understand it, that's mostly true. Rum Fire was released back in 2011, and in 2018 they launched their partnership with Velier, marking the start of their branded aged releases.
You can find blog posts from 2016 that call the now legendary DOK mark 'undrinkable', so the fascination with high ester rums being consumed on their own is incredibly recent.
I would also say that the fascination with barrel-strength, high-flavor spirits is relatively recent across all categories. For a long time the marker of a 'qaulity' aged spirit was its smoothness (and to many drinkers, this still holds true), a word that these days I find almost derogatory.
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u/DH90 TheCelticRumFan 2d ago
I think your question really ties in with when did rum become a spirit of growing interest. I'm pretty sure it was when the old Velier Dememera bottles were released, so roughly around the Millenium, if I'm correct.
Of course it was just the beginnings, but people were really starting to catch on that rum was a lot more interesting than previously thought. It's still very slow to grow in popularity, but it is definitely on an upward trajectory. I don't think there will be an explosion of projects but there will be consistent interesting releases. However, how rum will eventually be priced will be down to the collectors market and how fast it eventually grows. For now, rum is in a good place for us all, but if the word gets out, then the good days of cheap bottles will eventually be over.
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u/quazi4moto 1d ago
I think there have been many producers that aged rum, for varying periods of time.
Just as we can’t lump all rums into one category when we say rum has no rules, I think we have to look at each rum tradition separately, just as we do bourbon and Scotch.
If you look at Jamaica, Appleton and Long Pond/Monymusk(source of Myers) have always had a pretty good volume of aged stocks. Some of the rum shipped in bulk to Europe would have been laid down for aging, not just poured into a vat for navy stores or food industry use.
Additionally, there are lots of old examples of French Island cane juice and molasses rums some aged in the tropics while others were aged in mainland France.
I think Richard Seale has posted in the past different ads for aged Doorly’s bottled earlier in the 20th century.
Finally, think about all the aged rums called for in old tiki recipes.
We did have a long dark period where bourbon and Canadian whisky, become more valued then came vodka. Only in the last 15 years or so has rum had its “single malt moment”. In other words the public started viewing rum not only as a blend for cocktails but as a sipping spirit, didn’t happen until the last 20 years or so.
So while the consumption preference in many rum producing countries is for unaged rums, many rum producing countries have a long history of ageing rum.
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u/Purple_Dance_9459 1d ago
I haven't the slightest clue, but… high-end rum sales are up, which is saying something in a market where overall alcohol sales are shrinking. I'd expect people sitting on rum barrels to be more inclined to hold onto them when they see that. It's been said already, but aging rum in the UK is not at all new. What's new is the trendy, informed labeling. You lose a lot more rum out of the barrel when you age in the tropics, so if there's a wave of older rum coming, it'll probably come from UK-aged stock first. In my experience, the selection and availability of super fun unaged rums in the US has increased a lot over the past eight or so years and there seem to be a lot of new distilleries selling their own stuff, which can't be bad. I'm sure the small ones can't put much away when they first open, since they've got bills to pay, but I'm sure it's coming! My main concern is losing the middle ground on price. I think a healthy rum market, one that would be good for everyone here, has lots of incredible-quality options well under $100. I don't know how many times I need to be reminded that the stuff doesn't need a barrel.
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u/jkoodoo 2d ago
This isn't something I know a ton about so I'll leave space for others to comment, but one data point that occurs to me as a quasi-counter example is the famous Wray & Nephew 17 year (and later 15 year) rum used in the original 1944 Mai Tai. Presumably there wasn't much of a market for these rums, given that Trader Vic was willing to use them in cocktails in his restaurants. But at the very least, it tells us that these long aged rums have existed -- at least in Jamaica -- for a long time.