This is a setup for one of my favorite old jokes "How are an orange and an apple the same?" The answer: "They're both orange, except for the apple." And so it goes with the two Bogarts of rum: Politician Big Burr and the Preacher. As re color, allow me to first state the assured stump speech of Politician Burr:
This is pretty much the standard swill dished out into the tin feeding bowls of all the new monkeys by all the promoters. The Preacher's pronouncements fall right in line with this propaganda, but with a few twists...Big Burr:
"White rum is clear, usually has milder flavor and lighter body than gold or dark rums. These light rums are most often used to create cocktails that do not have a need for bold rum flavor."
"As rum mellows in barrels over time, it takes on amber or golden hues. These golden rums usually present a more flavorful profile than the white or clear rums. Gold rums are used to make cocktails in which a stronger flavor is desired."
"Black rums are... the darkest, richest, heavy bodied rums ... offering bold tropical essence to libation and recipes. Black rums are popular ingredients used to balance the flavors of drinks against gold, white and spiced rums."
Burr is pretty clear that it's a matter of age, body and flavor. According to him the "whites" have little of either, the "golds" exhibit a bit more of each, and the "blacks" are the full, rich heavy hitters. In his own twisted way the Preacher agrees, but makes a couple of interesting admissions, namely that in many cases whites and golds are both aged, but the white is filtered (ergo less flavor). The really interesting admission?Preacher:
White Rum: "To satisfy those consumers who want a smoother taste in a clear spirit, distillers age the rum to improve the flavor and then carbon filter it to remove any trace of color it has acquired. Carbon filtering can also remove some of the congeners or impurities, yielding a drink with less hangover potential."
"Some distilleries bottle a white and gold version of their most popular rums. While both of these rums are aged, the one bottled as clear rum has been carbon filtered."
"If the rum in your glass is very dark, you can be pretty sure that caramel has been added. But if the color is not too dark and the label doesn't say how long the rum was aged, you can only guess. When you taste and smell the rum, look for the sweet caramel traces (!) that are sometimes present."
That "blacks" or very dark rums are surely colored and - are you sitting down? - may well exhibit a caramel taste. Holy alteration Batman! Keep in mind that caramel coloring - even enough to turn a rum black - is extremely potent, extremely bitter (tasting NOTHING like caramel), and requires just a few drops per bottle.
Now with this in mind, let's consider Hamilton's own Jamaican releases of a pot-stilled "Gold" and a pot-stilled "Black". After much questioning, the annointed one revealed the following:
1. Both are new make white that were temporarily stored, er "rested" in uh, stainless steel tanks and have come nowhere near any form of wood aging, then transported in 1000 gallon "totes" for bottling.
2. Neither is aged. They are both new (white) make that are simply colored to different degrees. He admits that the colored white, er gold, is actually the more flavorful of the two for reasons that even he does not appear to understand.
Bottom Line:
In sum Hamilton's own release breaks all the rules, including his own when he makes clear that his white, gold and black Jamaicans are all the very same unaged new make altered only by DS-400 color. As always, the best way - always - to establish hypocrisy is simply to examine the earlier statements of such bloviators. How many of us when new to rum, were caused to believe there were meaningful differences between white, gold and black rums in terms of flavor from honest wood aging? I was.
How silly we all were!
