Capn Jimbo wrote:You got my attention!
The key statement: that a 20 year old Caroni rum may only contain 4% of actual 20 year rum, with another 16% composed of what they call "pure alcohol" and rest being distilled water.
Still, this doesn't quite make sense. The article states that 4% is the aged rum (probably 130 proof, 65%) and the other 16% is what they call "pure alcohol". If the latter is GNS (grain neutral spirits) or nearly so, this 16% is is 190 proof/95%. According to the article the other 80% is distilled water.
Let's examine this, say by volume...
1. 750 ml x 4% x 65% = 22 ml alcohol
2. 750 ml x 16% x 95% = 114 ml alcohol
3. 114 ml + 22 ml = 136 ml / 750 ml = 18% (36 proof).
Somethings missing here, and its about 164 ml of alcohol (for 80 proof). Perhaps there is an element of blending (young rum) as well. JaRiMi?
I think the article, which was written by a very adept newspaper writer, trade union activist and political commentator Raffique Shah got it totally wrong. He is not a rum maker, just a political journalist.
In any case what he was trying to discuss here are the old blended rums bottled more than 13 years ago under the label of Caroni, in Trinidad. These are all gone, I've got some of them, and I can already say Raffique's explanations are a mistake in understanding what the blenders have told him.
What he is trying to say in a very onfused and misguided way, is that AT THAT TIME, the old Caroni blends, BOTTLED (not the ones in cask), did not use the youngest distillate in their age statements. Only some of the rum was as old as 15-years old - the rest was younger. Thats all. Now that is common in rum, right? It is, unlike in whisky, where the youngest distillate is marked on the label on the bottle.
So - it has nothing to do with CASKS of Caroni. It has nothing to do with CURRENT CARONI BOTTLINGS, none of which are done by the Caroni 1975 ltd company, which was closed down in 2001 in Trinidad.
None of you have probably seen these old Caroni bottlings, which Raffique was talking about in that 13-years old article. Here's a picture:
I have tasted these rums. I can tell you that the rum mixed with the 15-years old stock in these bottles has NOT been neutral spirit diluted. These bottles contain a blend of rums of varied ages. I think Raffique also got it wrong between pot still and column still rums, he probably understood that all the column still rum is "neutral spirit".
Where he is 100% right is that the whole closure of Caroni was one, big political show...and corruption rampant. And populism...well, there are still a number of Trini politicians who oppose sugar cane cultivation on the island because it reminds them of slavery...Very little to do with modern economics, huh?
And please remember - the dollars you are seeing quote are NOT $US, they are $TT - meaning that the $ 600 (Trini dollars) quoted int he article equals $US 92.