Rum is one of the most underrated spirits. No longer just a sailors’ grog, or limited to being a key ingredient in piña coladas, the drink has long carried the ‘vacation in a glass’ vibe. Loved for its versatility and mixability, in terms of production, blending and maturation, a truly high-end rum is a lot like fine whisky. The gamut of premium rums – from Barbados to Panama – are top-shelf staples and deserve so much more than to be concealed in Coca-Cola.

According to connoisseurs, the spirit has enormous potential, with the dotting of artisanal rum bars around the world testament to the shift away from its beaches and bikinis image. “The industry has seen major repositioning – today, people want to know about the age, origin, distillation techniques,” says Yukino Yoshimura, Brand Development Manager of SelvaRey Rum in Hong Kong. “With sustainable living on the rise, people are drinking less but better-quality products.”

Premiumisation has boded well for the spirit. Higher priced rums, which represent 15-percent of the total sector, witnessed steady single-digit gains in 2021 and are nudging the cheaper versions off the shelf. The appetite for the super-premium category – dominated by the likes Diplomático, Kirk and Sweeney, Moët Hennessy – accounting for four percent of sales has grown more than 50 percent in the last couple of years. With stellar hikes in distillery volume too, the hope is that rum will soon give gin a run for its money as the new comeback spirit.

Expensive and Fiddly

Top quality rums are sipped neat and relished in naked form – with all their joys and faults. Rum-making is a waiting game that requires an expert’s touch; unlike gin which is a relatively quick mix of ethanol and botanicals, rum is distilled in myriad ways. A few are aged to perfection at century-old distilleries, shunning additives or added sugar, with distinct flavour profiles. Others are young in maturity but dripping with caramel to mimic an intense brown look. Loose laws, lack of transparency and unique filtration methods mean that consumers don’t necessarily know what’s in their bottle.

The spirit is currently labelled and categorised according to colour – white/silver, gold and dark – with tags like ‘aged’ and ‘overproof’ (high alcohol content) also clues to the character of the nectar within. Luxury tropes like age and colour are erroneous in rum – unlike whisky and cognac, dark is not always barrelled for a few years, white does not imply young – colour is a redundant way to categorise the spirit. Singer Bruno Mars’ SelvaRey Rum brand is confident that the moment in the sun for the spirit has arrived.

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Chocolate King

‘Jungle King’ in Spanish, SelvaRey is a dynamic collection of elegant, finely crafted rums created in a sustainable way in the lush forests of Panama. Its Chocolate Rum received a whopping 95 points from The Tasting Panel, one of the highest rum ratings in the history of the magazine, and bagged gold at the Miami Rum Festival. Not too sweet, this delicious satiny spirit with notes of espresso, toffee and cardamom is aged for five years in bourbon casks and infused with natural chocolate.

Exclusiva Choice

Winner of the double gold medal at the 2016 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Diplomático’s Reserva Exclusiva is an exceptional blend of 20-percent light column-distilled rums and 80 percent pot-still rums aged up to 12 years. Credited with being a pioneer in the rum renaissance movement, this Venezuelan golden tipple comes alive with subtle spice, dry vanilla and smooth chocolate.

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(Text: Nikita Mishra)