Rabid Wolf Dept: Baring fangs at the Count

[Capn Jimbo]

Aw c'mon, it's only an opinion...


There's something about the 4th of July, obviously NOT celebrated by our Canookie friends. In a Shillery thread re Old Monk, our good Count properly made a simple observation based on a comment by the Furry One...

Wolfie (speaking of Indian dark rums, including Old Monk XXX):

"All three are what I call 'Black Rums' which for me means a rum whose colour and flavour are enhanced by caramel and perhaps other things."

The Count (in reply):

"Wouldn't be unheard of with many other rums out there... sadly."

The Count quite properly simply extends the Frozen One's comment to include the many other rums likewise containing unlabeled additives. Sadly, of course. But remember, Wolfie now considers himself one of the inner core, alpha monkeys - who work hard to have the last growl, ergo his barking and somewhat defensive reply:

The Wolfmeister:

"I make the comment in the review that I suspect all of the flavour is not necessarily derived from tropical aging. I also say that on that point I am rather indifferent, as what tastes good in my glass is far more important to me than my preconceptions as to how rum should be made. In fact, who am I to tell the people on another continent halfway around the world, what should or should not be in their rum. Rum from India would I suspect be made according to their traditions not according to my preconceptions."

(Emphases added)

In the world of Magic, this is called redirection. In politics it's called avoiding the subject, namely the fact that these all too common additives and flavorings are unlabeled. It goes without saying that no one here could give a flying fig whether a rum has been altered and contains moose piss for that matter, but...

That if it does, have the decency to admit and/or label it. If the Wolfburger's statement that "what tastes good in my glass is far more important" doesn't make him a charter member at the "it's all good" corral, well...

[Hassouni]

Indian rum made according to their traditions? No, I'd say it's made in the good English style, because I wonder who brought rum to India...

[Capn Jimbo]

The chicken or the egg?


Actually, the reverse may be true. Sugar cane originated in the Far East and it was only much, much later that it arrived in Brazil, then the Caribbean. Per Charles Coulombe, the Muslims first dominated India and grew spices which were extremely valuable. Spain and Portugal were drawn in, with the Portuguese dominating the Indian Ocean, and Spain in the Phillipines.

The Portuguese domination finally ended at the hands of the Dutch pirates. You are correct though in that England focused on India in the 1600's, but were contested mightily by all the other European sea powers.

Enter rum.

As in the Caribbean, rum is the fuel of both trade and sailors. The Dutch in Java decided to concentrate on growing sugar in Java, which became the world's largest producer of sugar, and of course, rum. The rum was primarily molasses, but also red rice-based, and distilled in traditional pot stills, and aged for 3 to 4 years. This early product - like Mount Gay - was produced continuously and consistently by E&A Scheer (whose fleet of ships transported the rum to the Netherlands for an additional 4 to 6 years of aging.

I think it fair to say that the Scheer family's "Batavia Arrack" is the longest produced, most consistent rum ever produced. They are followed only by the Gardere's of Haiti's Barbancourt, yet another family who has survived years of war, strife and Diageo without selling out.

The French controlled islands produced both arrack and tafia (cane juice based) spirits in Reunion, the Seychelles and Mauritius much of which ended up in "rhum arrange", using varying recipes of rum, fruit juice, cane syrup, flowers, herbs and berries.


Back to India...

The Brits finally prevailed in India, and promoted sugar cane and sugar, and valuable spices, but rum? Not so much. The Caribbean provided all the rum the empire required. Thus rum in India was produced by and mostly for the local population of Anglo-Indians and the Indo-Portuguese. That spiced rums were popular is an understatement and continues to this day, as evidenced by Old Monk.

It is fair to assume that arrack and pot stilling preceded the British in India, while in the Caribbean it was the reverse as Irish and Scottish indentured workers with past distilling experience introduced their English distilling knowledge to the Caribbean, particularly in Barbados and Jamaica.

It is certainly not completely clear, but it does appear to be an Indian style. It's worth discussion...