As many of you know, long ago I engaged in a months' long exchange of emails with the Frozen One. My objective: to gain an budding advocate for the purity of rum. In this exchange I emphasized the unlabeled additives like sugar, glycerol, artificial flavorings and even wine.
The Wolf didn't believe me.
I challenged him on one of his top favorites (Diplomatico Rerserva) and Zaya - surely he'd admit unlabeled alteration with these, yes?
No. This erstwhile reviewer denied alteration, and argued (a) the distillers wouldn't lie and (b) the regulations allow it. And he refused to speculate.
That was then - now is now...
It's now a couple turbulent years later and it seems the Wolf (and his Canookie buddy Lance) have finally come around - well a little anyway - to my view...
This is a far cry from his aforesaid position! In this recent quote he outs cheepo Tanduay (which I consider a faux rum) and surprisingly, the super-premium Legendario. The Tanduay content seems borrowed from Lance's site containing a long post from moi regarding Tanduay's admission of unlabeled alteration.Wolfie Barks at the Shillery: "There are at least a few companies who admit to adding sugar and other sweeteners to their rums (Most companies just keep mum on the subject)."
"According to...Tanduay... their rums are produced from four main ingredients, distilled alcohol (from sugar cane molasses), demineralized water, sugar, and the rather nebulous 'other ingredients'... after which it is blended with the aforementioned water, sugar, and those 'other ingredients'.
Legendario... is mixed with a small amount of muscatel wine.
But he's not quite there yet...
Here's what's intriging to me, specifically his admission (at last!) that "...Most companies just keep mum on the subject". Which was my argument years ago with him. But - but - he still won't identify the companies to which he refers!
WTFN?
Here's what I believe. Sadly, most of the "reviewers" are either commercial (Preacher), or defacto commercial in that they participate at rumfests, run their own, promote tastings and otherwise bend over for the distillers who provide hundreds of freebie rums and other spirits, buy tables, and sponsor free trips to say, Guyana.
Out any distiller and the word gets around. Believe me, I know.
At one time Sue Sea was approached by the Rum Queen to "co-promote" a rumfest in Ft. Lauderdale. Not long thereafter she was pulled aside by the Queen who advised her that she must distance herself from The Rum Project, and never - ever! - say anything the least bit negative about rum.
The Queen - at the behest of Zacapa - also confronted me with a single, tongue-in-cheek reply I'd once posted about alteration...
All in good fun - the thread was really about alteration. But not to the Queen! I even offered to remove the post (shame on me), but she assured me it was no problem.Moi: "A real taste engineer can make horse piss - or a cheap rum - taste like Zacapa 23. In fact, Zacapa 23 is horse piss (but only a little is actually 23 years)! But such a sweet and lovely horse piss, complex and so very smooth. Mmmmm, yummy!
I kid the Zacapanistas. There is not a horse in sight at the distillery, and the rest rooms feature proper, modern plumbing. I think."
It was and poor Sue Sea suffered the Queen's subsequent recusal.
Bottom Line
After all these years I am pleased to finally see a general recognition of rogue rums rogueness and anything goes practices. My task will be complete when the Canookies start naming the names they know or suspect.
