As the 60s classic A Whiter Shade of Pale crackled from radios in the UK, the US and beyond, a whiter shade of pale rum was making its own waves around the world. Trademark disputes aside, that’s probably where the similarity between Procol Harum and Bacardi ends, though it was inarguably this era that made the white rum what it is today – a 47 million, 9-litre case category (Euromonitor International).

Having fledged Castro’s nest in 1960, Bacardi grew its wings, increasing volumes by more than 10% in each year of the 60s, and by 1968 it had reached 2 million cases. By the 70s it had become one of the world’s top 10 spirits. 

Bacardi carved out a future different from its darker contemporaries. As the first man to age and charcoal filter rum, 19th century founder Don Facundo had produced a light, mixable and versatile liquid. With 60s ad campaigns such as Enjoyable Always & All Ways, Bacardi’s light coloured rum could rival vodka, all on its own. 

On the international stage mixability had been, and still is, the key to white rums – even for the new generation of super-premium blends that try so hard not to be Bacardi. 

Ian Burrell, self-appointed – but unanimously referenced as – global rum ambassador, has witnessed the rise of the new generation of aged rums. These are rums that have been drawn from multiple Caribbean islands, matured for as much as six years, but are as clear as if they just dripped off the still. “There are many styles but you are definitely seeing more premium rums, such as Banks 5 Island, Diplomatico and Elements 8. And we will start to see more light, delicate rums come to the market,” he says.

With £30-£40 price tags, these products are more reminiscent of Grey Goose than their category leader, Bacardi Superior. “If you look at the price of Bacardi the jump to premium prices is big, so they have to justify the price. That will be the hardest transition,” says Burrell. Attempting to step up from Bacardi to super-premium can be more a game of snakes than ladders. “In vodka you have the steps,” says Burrell, referring to the multiple products and price points that can lead a consumer to super-premium enlightenment, or up the garden path, depending on how you view it. 

One brand looking to persuade consumers and bartenders to make the leap is the aforementioned Elements 8. “With the launch of our brand in 2006, when there were no premium whites on the market, we were labelled as crazy for thinking that there would ever be a category,” says Andreas Redlefsen, co-founder of Elements 8. 

As Redlefsen points out, in cities such as London white rums’ stage of development is analogous with where aged rums were in the 90s and early 2000s. “The interest is widening and we are seeing our distribution widen in the on-premise,” says Redlefsen. “However, we also manage and control our distribution in order to preserve our premium positioning. We have walked away from volume account opportunities because we felt the fit and feel wasn’t right for the brand.”

“One way to promote your rum is as a ‘bling bling’ drink and use marketing,” says Burrell. “In the States there are a few. They are going after the vodka market. That’s how some white rum brands do it; they have to go out of their category to recruit super-premium white rum drinkers – rum drinkers tend to drink dark.”  

One wonders what Redlefsen would have said about bling in 2006, but in 2013 he sees it as “passé”. “Especially since the financial meltdown,” he adds. “Consumption habits have changed and ostentatious [branding] is no longer as accepted. Look at the new designs and styles of most bars that are opening which are very far away from the early to mid-2000 bling – much more understated.”

One way is to come out of the dark into the light. In the four years since the family-owned Guatemalan brand, Botran, relaunched, it has garnered a reputation for aged Solera rums and has witnessed triple-digit growth in consecutive years to make it a 100,000-case brand. Late last year Botran entered the white rum market, albeit with a soft launch, with Reserva Blanca. “There are many premium white rums now but they have concentrated on being in-your-face expensive and have not communicated on the rum. We are not trying to be vodka,” says Frank Quiñones, global commercial director of Botran.

With a price point of $18-$20 in the US and £20 in the UK, Botran Reserva Blanca is a manageable step up from Bacardi, nestled at $14/£14. So, for Botran, a small company with an even smaller marketing budget, success will be forged on taste alone. “You can sip it and still enjoy it – either neat or with ice. In blind tastes most people say it’s an aged rum,” says Quiñones.

With the US’s largest distributor, Southern Wine & Spirits, onboard with its white rum, Botran is looking to Florida. Most US rum sales are in Florida because of the Hispanic population. But for Botran, the US and Europe is pretty much the extent of ambition for Reserva Blanca. “We are not looking to take over the world with this. We are an aged rum company – we just needed a white rum in our portfolio. It’s not that we are pessimistic – we believe there is a potential for this white rum – but no one has nailed it yet.”

Cocktails

Local-rum drinkers apart, white rum is for mixing. Big-flavour cocktails tend to negate the need for a £30 rum – this is where cheaper, less complicated rums have their place. Delicate rums demand more delicate cocktails. Here’s Ian Burrell to explain: “In top-end bars such as Artesian they would use better quality white rums to make Daiquiris – if the rum isn’t lost then you can charge a premium.” So Daiquiris, Sours and Mojitos are where it pays to go with quality, says Burrell, but there are also serves such as white rum and tonic with a twist of orange, now a favourite in Spain, and Burrell’s own suggestion: white rum Old Fashioned with orange bitters. “It looks clear but there’s a lot of flavour,” he says.

At the sharp end of the cocktail world we hear murmurs of Mojito discontent. Just look at The World’s 50 Best Bars Brands Report, where the Mojito slipped from being king of the cocktails to third behind the Old Fashioned and the Dry Martini within a year. It’s fair to say the ’tenders behind those bars are a brutally fashionable bunch and are probably bored senseless by muddling mint.

But while the world’s top bars are influential and are a good indicator of things to come, are brands starting to see a Mojito malaise? “Not at all. In fact, we are seeing the Mojito become more popular as it is gaining acceptance in areas outside of major urban metros,” says Brandon Lieb, brand executive of Atlantico rum, which also comes in a Platinum version. “While people in London, Miami, New York, etc, have been enjoying Mojitos for a while, the drink is really just now starting to become more popular in other markets. The Daiquiri is also clearly making a major comeback. A classic that if made properly is fantastic.”

 As a Cuban rum Havana Club is all-systems-go Mojito, and markets its three-year-old as the authentic, premium choice for the cocktail. “The global category has remained flat, growing just 0.7% on average over the past 10 years.  But the popularity of the Mojito is one of the key factors supporting the growth of the white rum category,” says François Renie, communications director at Havana Club. “This has compensated the increasing trend to choose dark rum over white as a mixer in Rum & Cola.”

Overall the Pernod Ricard/Cuban government-owned rum brand rose 4% in value and 2% in volume, and its white styles, Havana Club Blanco and Havana Club 3 Year Old, represent almost two-thirds of its global volumes. 

Blanco is concentrated in price-sensitive markets (more on this later) so it is Havana Club 3 Year Old that represents a higher market share and is also showing a faster growth rate. It is this expression that Havana Club wages its market wars with Bacardi. “The 3 Year Old expression is asserting itself as the strongest premium offering capable of conquering the white rum segment in export markets,” says Renie. 

With Bacardi Superior having only 18 months of ageing on the clock – and all its colour filtered away – it may be finding it harder to mix with older white rums and convince those to whom age matters. “We managed to take the leadership in some markets from Bacardi. In Germany [excluding flavoured rum] and France we are ahead, but in Britain, between Diageo and Bacardi it’s difficult to find a place in the UK market,” says Renie. 

Now that Campari is at the helm with Wray & Nephew, and from this month has taken US distribution rights in-house, it will be interesting to see how far Wray & Nephew’s white flagship style, Overproof Rum, burgeons. Its 63% abv will make it vulnerable to duty, but there is enough interest among bartenders and Jamaican diasporas to give it a fighting chance of becoming a real global player. For now though, as far as white rum is concerned, it is the Cuban styles that rule the international scene. 

Local consumption

How much of the white rum world is down to local consumption is hard to put a number on. According to Euromonitor in The Millionaires’’ Club 2012, India accounts for 29% of the rum category’s volume and is seeing growth in the high single digits. 

Heading the category is United Spirits’ McDowell’s No 1 Celebration (15.6 million cases in 2011) which is available in white and dark styles. In the Philippines the kingpin rum brand is even bigger at a massive 18.71 million cases, just short of Bacardi’s 19.56 million cases in 2011. By numbers these brands are colossal, but as far as international relevance is concerned, they are largely unacknowledged. That said, Diageo knew exactly what it was doing when it moved for United Spirits a few months back. According to chief executive Paul Walsh at the Diageo’s recent half-year results conference, acquiring large players in emerging markets is key to the group’s strategy.  

Almost a third of Havana Club’s global volume is domestic. “Havana Club Blanco is both the bestseller in Cuba and the most accessible rum of our range for Cuban consumers,” says Renie. The style also exists in Italy, the Czech Republic and France but its existence is described as “a commercial move, not a marketing move”. Priced by the Cuban authorities at US$4 a bottle, the brand remains accessible to the locals, something that is important to the company. “We are happy with Blanco at US$4 as we want it to be drunk by Cubans.” Indeed, there is no more powerful image than the bottles, T-shirts and flags festooned across Havana – to a tourist Havana Club is the Cuban rum. 

 In many Caribbean countries, such as Jamaica, overproof is king, so imported brands don’t tend to do well.  

Botran seems to be going down well in the Dominican Republic, reports Quiñones. “In Puerto Rica we are waiting for the right time. It’s a white rum market – but it’s the home of Bacardi. You have to be careful about launching rums in the Caribbean – they are very loyal to their indigenous rums. For his Blanco, even the brand’s home Guatemala is a very small market. On mainland Latin America “white rums are not the culture”, expalins Quiñones. 

In Asia and mainland Latin America – and many other parts of the world – it seems rum needs colour to prove its quality, regardless if the liquid once had colour, but then had it removed. Peter Holland of the insightful rum blog, thefloatingrumshack.com, says there are some interesting new white rums on the market, but he’s an apostle of flavour and suggests colour stripping as a process is counterintuitive. “When you pull out colour, you pull out compounds and flavour too. It’s about making it seem premium even though it’s just white rum. But why would you add value then strip it out,” he asks.  

At a certain price point white rum climbs out of the mainstream on to trickier terrain, where big, complex flavours are required in order to gain a market footing. Besides a few curious bartenders, white rum is not yet a rum-drinker’s rum. But at the right price, as Bacardi and Havana Club have proved, it is certainly a drinker’s rum.