David Driscoll Interviews El Dorado Distiller

[bearmark]

Especially considering the recent discovery of significant sugar levels in El Dorado rum, I recommend this interesting article where David Driscoll of K&L Wines interviews Shaun Caleb, El Dorado's current distiller, on his recent trip to Guyana. His reference to the different flavor profiles achieved with the different stills is particularly interesting.

[Capn Jimbo]

Nice link Bear, thanks...



I don't know about how others may feel, but I'm really very tired of the repetition of one of the great Demeraran myths, namely the making of rum from "ancient", 200 year old wooden stills. For example:

" I think anyone learning how to distill would have a tough enough time on a new still, whereas you had to learn with some of the oldest stills in existence. You’re using a wooden pot still from the 1700s and a wooden Coffey still from the 1800s. I guess that’s just on-the-job training, right? I heard from your staff that maintaining consistency isn’t easy when you’re working with ancient wooden stills."

The real truth: there isn't a single toothpick left from the original stills. I may be off a bit, but the wood is replaced at the rate of about 10% a year, for an average age of 5 years, and a total rebuild every 10 years. That's a far cry from "ancient". There are Scottish copper pots stills far, far older. Other notes:

1. He admits that he prefers the old column stills, which will largely be supplanted by their new column stills as different elements can be isolated or drawn off at different levels. Is this really a good thing?

2. He brags of over 200 congeners in their wash as "very rich" - but which would be considered rather weak in Jamaica where upwards of 1500 esters are routine.

3. When asked to postion rum in relationship to the growing market for pure whisky and bourbon, he pretty much avoids the great ape in the room, namely that rum lacks real definition, regulation, enforcement and purity. Instead he speaks in the usual evasive generalities of consumers somehow developing a "nuanced appreciation" for rum. And just what does that really mean?

It means they fall prey to batshit marketing claims, not real quality or purity. Havabanana!

[Hassouni]

I saw that blog post a week or so ago (and commented upon it on egullet). There's also a line there saying how the "color and sweetness of ED rums are caused by the long aging in barrels in the ultra tropical climate" or something along those lines.

Bollocks, as we here at the Rum Project know.

As for wooden stills - I don't think it matters that it's not 200 years old in reality - even a few years of steady use probably impregnates the wood with some tasty stuff.

As for 200 congeners vs 1500 - what readily available JA rum has 1500 esters? Even the Plummer and Wedderburn rums of S&C fall in the 200 or so range.




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Capn's Log: From the Jamaican section "Jamaican rums that even today rums are classified as to their ester content: Common Cleans (80-150 esters, light and floral), Plummers (150-200 esters, light and fruity), Wedderburns (200-500), deep fruity, heavy bodied and pungent) and last Continental Flavored/High Ester (500-1700 esters, by far the most pungent, acetones). The wood of choice is generally oak which is not terribly permeable in the few hours the wash is present. I wouldn't count on any meaningful exchange beyond the real contributor to flavor, the fermented wash. Oh - and the sugar...

[da'rum]

Yep, bollocks pretty much sums it up. I can't add much to what Jim and Hassouni have said but I will say that DDL are full of it. Ed is on my Diageo, Beam, Bacardi et al shit list.

[Hassouni]

Capn's Log: From the Jamaican section "Jamaican rums that even today rums are classified as to their ester content: Common Cleans (80-150 esters, light and floral), Plummers (150-200 esters, light and fruity), Wedderburns (200-500), deep fruity, heavy bodied and pungent) and last Continental Flavored/High Ester (500-1700 esters, by far the most pungent, acetones). The wood of choice is generally oak which is not terribly permeable in the few hours the wash is present. I wouldn't count on any meaningful exchange beyond the real contributor to flavor, the fermented wash. Oh - and the sugar...

Yeah, that's where I got my statement from. Given S&C is half Plummer, half Wedderburn, I can't imagine the ester component is out of the low hundreds (maybe 250-300 max?). Appleton I'm sure is far less.

Now, if someone could get me some Hampden Estate indie bottlings....http://www.hampdenrumcompany.com/distillery.html (they distill S&C)

[Dai]

Usual type of article, it's not what they put in it, it's what they leave out that's more interesting.