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Rum Aging
Rum
Aging One of the most important
aspects of rum production for most serious rum lovers is the length of time each rum is aged for. This is probably one of
the most interesting aspects of rum production and the one that least is known about. As there are no consistent laws on how rum is aged throughout the world, rum is aged
in various locations and for varying lengths of time. Rum can be found aging at sea level, thousands of feet up in the mountains
and even underwater, thus creating wide varieties in styles and flavours. Rum can be bottled straight from the still with
little or no aging, or can be aged up to thirty years or more in oak barrels. Rum is aged in the humid tropical islands of
the Caribbean, in the cold climates of Northern Europe and even in the mountains of Nepal. However, one pretty constant aspect of rum aging is the widely accepted art of maturing
the rum in once used bourbon oak barrels. This is the accepted method of aging for the vast majority
of rum producers today. You
may ask why is it that rum is aged in used bourbon barrels. There is a fairly simple answer to this question. By a law enacted
in 1964, the United States Congress recognized Bourbon Whiskey as a "distinctive product of the United States."
One of the laws included in this act was that; "Bourbon must be aged in new, charred oak aging barrels." As a result of this law bourbon producers found themselves
with a glut of used oak barrels. Some of them had only been used for the minimum two years required by law to qualify the
distilled spirit as American Bourbon. Rum distillers all over the world were only too glad to acquire as many of these barrels
as they could get their hands on. Not only would the bourbon distillers be helping the rum distillers, it was also a way of
keeping their own costs of aging their whiskey down. The larger rum producers will receive their oak barrels broken down into bundles and have their team
of coopers rebuild and re-char the barrels. The smaller companies will recieve their barrels in one piece and begin using
them usually after a short curing process to ensure the barrels have not dried out during transport.
Bourbon is aged in new white oak barrels. This means that the whiskey extracts the most colour and flavour
out of the barrel in its first use. The predominant flavours extracted from the barrel are vanilla and caramel. The caramel
flavour is produced mainly from the charring of the oak (shown right). To make a barrel the
American Oak is cut into staves which are super heated and bent into ovular form. The barrel is then "toasted" by
sending it through a small fire for about twelve minutes to caramelize the sugar in the wood. Next it is applied to a larger
fire for six to twelve seconds to burn out the inside and produce a charcoal layer. The charring has to cover the inside of
the barrel evenly so as to provide a consistent flavour to the whiskey. During the years of
slow aging the whiskey is believed to "breathe" in the barrel. With fluctuations of temperature the whiskey expands
and contracts in and out of the oak barrel. This expansion and contraction of the whiskey through the caramelized layer of
charred wood inside the barrel mellows it, giving it the distinctive flavour and appearance. This maturation of the whiskey
happens quicker in the Bourbon belt than it does in the cool, damp climates of Scotland and Ireland. The whiskey moves about
3/4 of an inch in and out of the one inch thick white oak, thus drawing out all the wood flavours predominant in bourbon.
The result of the whiskey aging for many years in the oak barrels are that it draws many of the original flavours from the wood, but can leave behind traces of the bourbon. In many of todays aged rums you will be able to taste slight hints of bourbon, some more than others, depending on how old the barrel it was aged in was. Rum producers often re-char their barrels so that they impart more colour and flavour to the rum.(shown above at Zacapa) Another trick many rum producers use is to add wood chips or pieces of discarded oak barrels into the aging rum. This provides more oak contact for the rum to draw more colour and flavour. Obviously size does matter aswell. The smaller the barrell, the more contact the rum will have with the oak. The larger the barrell, the less contact with the oak. Most rum producers use a standard size barrel, around 195 litres. Others use smaller barrels for a quicker flavour transfer or huge oak vats which generally take longer to age their rums. These larger vats tend to be favoured more by the French islands, eg. Barbancourt.(shown below) There are also differences in the types of oak used to make the barrel. French oak gives off subtle flavours whereas its American counterpart gives off much stronger aromas. All rum when it is distilled is clear or colourless and tastes pungent and raw. The longer the rum is aged in the barrel the darker the rum will become. Many white rums these days are aged for extended periods of time and then filtered through carbon to remove any colour gained during the aging process, but leaving behind all the added flavours. Most white rums do not sell for as much as their darker cousins and so the aging length is often pretty short. For the darker rums caramel is often added to the final blend of rum to give it a consistent colour. This will often have an influence on the final falvour of the rum and can be tasted in many dark rums.
The Angel's Share When rum is aged for long periods of time in an oak barrel it will slowly evaporate. This evaporation is often called the angel's share. The evaporation rate can be as high as 10% a year in the tropical Caribbean, while it can be as little as 2% for Cognac or whisky producers in colder climates. While the oak barrel allows the rum to breath through the wood during the aging process, which in turn adds great flavour to the rum, this evaporation is costing the distiller large ammounts of money in lost profit. Obviously the longer you age the rum, the more is lost to evaporation and so less rum is left to bottle. A distiller often has to decide what is the point of no return in regards to profit. Where local laws permit, distillers can top up their barrels with a rum of similar age or from the same batch.
Solera Aging An innovative way of aging rum that is most
often employed by rum producers in Spanish speaking countries is called the Solera method of aging. Solera
was once described by a rum expert as "Spanish for cheating", but infact is just a way of taking the raw edges off
aged rum much quicker than the traditional one barrel methods of aging and gives the master blender much more control over
the final product. Solera is a process for aging liquids such as wine, sherry, madeira, vinegar,
brandy and of course rum. It is a method of fractional blending in such a way that the finished product is a mixture of ages,
with the average age gradually increasing as the process continues over many years. Rum produced
from a solera system should not have a formal age statement as it is a blend of rum from many vintages, but for marketing
purposes the label will often display some sort of age. The only drawback from this system
of aging is the initial investment in barrels, rum and warehouse space. The Solera system consists of a stock of rum in oak barrels, split into graduated units each of different
maturation ages and each of equal volume. The final stage of finished rum is called the Solera. The supporting steps or scales
are called criaderas. Rum for bottling and blending is drawn from the Solera, which is replaced by rum from the immediately
supporting criadera of rum of the same style, but a little younger and less complex. From there, replacements proceed in succession
down the scales of the system until the youngest criadera is refreshed with carefully selected young rum. The number of criaderas
used before the solera varies from distillery to distillery. Many distillers will finish their rum in barrels previously used
for sherry or port, adding even more flavour to the finished product. When rum from the oldest barrels of any one Solera is withdrawn for bottling, usually
between 10 to 15% of the rum in the barrel, the same amount of rum is removed from an equivalent number of barrels of the
first cridera or nursery. The rum is then blended and added in equal proportions to the space left in the barrels of the Solera.
During the following months or years the slightly younger rum will take on the characteristics of the majority of the older
rum in the barrel. All the rum in the barrel becomes exactly the same as the rum which was taken out months previously.
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