About Rum

 Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane byproducts such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels. Rum can be referred to in Spanish by descriptors such as ron viejo ("old rum") and ron añejo ("aged rum").

           The majority of the world's rum production occurs in the Caribbean and Latin America (including the Dominican Republic,Nicaragua, Belize, Martinique, Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados,Jamaica, St.Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Brazil, Haiti, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Peru andCuba). Rum is also produced in the Canary Islands of Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Mexico, Hawaii, the Philippines, India,Reunion Island, Mauritius, South Africa, and Canada.

        Rum plays a part in the culture of most islands of the West Indies as well as in the Canadian Maritimes and Newfoundland. This beverage has famous associations with the Royal Navy (where it was mixed with water or beer to make grog) and piracy (where it was consumed as bumbo). Rum has also served as a popular medium of economic exchange, used to help fund enterprises such as slavery, organized crime, and military insurgencies (e.g., the American Revolution and Australia's Rum Rebellion)

           Here are a few of the different grades of rum and rum types. The grades and variations used to describe rum depend on the location where a rum was produced. Despite these variations, the following terms are frequently used to describe various types of rum:

-       Light rums, also referred to as silver or white rums, in general, have very little flavor aside from a general sweetness.

-       Gold rums, also called amber rums, are medium-bodied rums that are generally aged.

-       Dark rums, also known by their particular color, such as brown, black, or red rums, are classes a grade darker than gold rums.

-       Spiced rums obtain their flavors through the addition of spices and, sometimes, caramel.

-       Flavored rums are infused with flavors of fruits, such as banana, mango, orange, citrus, coconut, starfruit or lime. These are generally less than 40% ABV, serve to flavor similarly themed tropical drinks, and are also often drunk neat or on the rocks.

-       Overproof rums are much higher than the standard 40% ABV. Most of these rums bear greater than 60%, in fact, and preparations of 75% to 80% ABV occur commonly. One example is Jack Iron Rum from Grenada made by Westerhall Estate Ltd.

-       Premium rums, as with other sipping spirits, such as Cognac and Scotch, are in a special market category.