Ron de Venezuela D.O.C. - what are the regulations?

[Kimbo]

Hi guys

I know the regulations state that Venezuelan rum has to be made from Venezuelan sugar cane, aged in white oak barrels for a minimum of two years, and have an ABV of at least 40%. Well, at least that's what I've been told from the distributers and producers of rum. But what are the actual letters of the law?

If you know where I can find the actual D.O.C. regulations on the internet, preferably in english, it would be greatly appreciated if you shared that information

[Capn Jimbo]

These will help:

http://zeolite.com.pl/?file=eth/eth_5
http://www.distill.com/specs/Venezue1.html
https://translate.google.com/translate? ... Deth/eth_5

All of these emanate from Venezuelan regulation 3040-93. It will suffice to state the following:

• 1. From cane juice or derivatives, aged in oak, has aromas and tastes characteristic of rum
  
  2. Transparent, free of turbidity, particles, etc., ie filtered.
  
  3. Matured in oak for the time specified in the Tax Laws (apparently 2 years)
  
  5. Aged ONLY in oak (no substitutes) and also - read this - NO chemical processes intended to speed up the natural aging in oak, ie no 6 day aging, lol. Very interesting.
  
  6. Must be 40-50% alcohol, esters from 0-200mg per 100ml (2000 ppm)
  
  7. Furfural limited to 6 mg/100ml or 60 ppm, aldehydes to 40mg/100mil or 400 ppm.

All noted, there are no regulations speaking directly to coloring, nor sugar and/or additives. I would note that one of their biggest exports is Diplomatico, a well known sugar bomb, ergo it seems fair to presume that the regulations are quite loose.

[JaRiMi]

This was an interesting find (the translated regulations). In the global rum club, an ambassador of Venezuelan rum was assuring me that I am wrong about a number of claims regarding Venezuelan rum some time ago - so I went on a search for the regulatory texts, but the Venezuelan sites were interestingly vague on the matters, just boasting on achieving this fantastic control agreement (and containing a video on it, which said nothing of interest).

I asked the same ambassador to provide us with a link to the regulatory text, or the text copied - and got no answer from him or anyone else associated with Venezuelan "rum". Joder....as they said in Madrid...que pasa? Well, I guess the regulation is not QUITE as puristic as he publicly claimed.

[The Fat Rum Pirate]

This was an interesting find (the translated regulations). In the global rum club, an ambassador of Venezuelan rum was assuring me that I am wrong about a number of claims regarding Venezuelan rum some time ago - so I went on a search for the regulatory texts, but the Venezuelan sites were interestingly vague on the matters, just boasting on achieving this fantastic control agreement (and containing a video on it, which said nothing of interest).

I asked the same ambassador to provide us with a link to the regulatory text, or the text copied - and got no answer from him or anyone else associated with Venezuelan "rum". Joder....as they said in Madrid...que pasa? Well, I guess the regulation is not QUITE as puristic as he publicly claimed.

Regulations the world over are a joke. The EU Regulations on spirits are an absolute joke in the UK. The only thing that is actually policed properly in the UK is Scotch Whisky. Which is largely down to the industry itself.

HMRC (Her Majesties Revenue and Customs) perform NO testing whatsoever on rums entering the UK market.

The Foods Standards Agency do not carry out any tests. Both have batted me back to the other. The ignorance shown by both departments was quite staggering.

I am now left asking Local Government about the situation but I have every confidence no testing is performed.

There is no point having regulations if they aren't followed. The EU Regulation as far as the UK is concerned are meaningless.