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THE RUM CATEGORY is as broad and far-reaching as they come. At last count, it is produced in nearly 85 countries. As a consequence, regulation and enforcement are notional for some. One of the most divisive and keenly debated unregulated and unenforced issues when it comes to rum is age.

Some rum-producing regions stipulate that the age printed on the label should refer to the youngest rum in the bottle. Simple enough, but there are a lot of producers who don’t follow this and the result is mass consumer confusion and a great deal of anger among commentators and producers.

“There is some understandable confusion about age statements within the rum category,” Ned Duggan, Bacardi brand marketing director VP, says. “This stems from the lack of a universal standard across the world with respect to rum ageing classification laws and regulation.”

As the leading international rum, Bacardi says it follows the “very simple and strict” Puerto Rican legal guidelines when it comes to providing age statements on its rums. Puerto Rican law dictates that the age statement on the bottle must reflect the youngest rum in the bottle. The same is true for Appleton, as the laws around Jamaican rum are clear.

“Some countries allow producers to state the age on the bottle that reflects the oldest rum in the bottle,” Dugan adds. “Even if it contains only a very small amount of that rum, but we believe this is disingenuous and does a disservice to the credibility of the rum category.”

Richard Seale, Foursquare Distillery master distiller, picks up the point: “With the growth in both the success of and the attention to the rum category we are seeing more aged rums enter the market. In the broad context of the past 20 years, the change is remarkable.”

He adds: “Unfortunately rum continues to communicate poorly and we have too many no-aged statement rums claiming to be premium and far too many misleading age claims, whether it is an ornamental number or a qualified number such as solera. As long as the rum category plays these asinine self-defeating games, we won’t be taken seriously at the very highest end of the market.”

Edward Hamilton, rum author and self-professed ‘advocate for honest rums’, says the industry is going to have to be more responsible at naming and shaming culprits who give rum a bad name. “The industry has to call out fake labels and fake products,” he says. “It needs to hold everyone accountable for their claims. The industry knows what others are and aren’t doing, but they continue to keep quiet for fear of offending someone. The credibility of the industry depends on raising the bar of authenticity.”

The practice is growing in number and gall. Hamilton says: “I can list half a dozen products that are clearly meant to deceive consumers with false age statements, others with misleading age statements and products that have so many additives no one believes they aren’t being doctored. But their PR agencies defend them all the way to the bank with statements like, ‘that’s not what the brand owner told me’.”

Hamilton says the unwritten rule that you don’t say anything about the competition is damaging. “Yesterday I received a press release that talked about a new rum from the Virgin Islands made in a small batch pot still. There are no pot stills licensed to make rum in the US Virgin Islands. This rum and everything about it is complete bullshit unless this is a new distilled spirits plant, in which case they should be talking about that, but they aren’t.

“The media is going to have to talk about fake products and not continue to take the attitude that you can’t say anything about other products,” he says.

COMMUNICATION

For Seale, it all comes down to communication. He says: “Communication of premium can’t be left to individual brands, we have to have an industry-level communication of real value. At the moment a mass-produced brand with a large but grossly misleading age claim and an artisanal brand with a smaller but accurate age claim will have the same industry level communication on the label – rum. How do you promote real value, artisanal production and authentic age when the consumer must struggle to identify it?”

Montserrat De Rojas, Zacapa global brand director, says the issues hark back to the fact there is no standard definition of what rum is. “The category is not homogenous, it isn’t governed by the same standards as scotch as each country which produces rum has a different definition. Therefore consumers do not always experience quality rums so do not place as much value on premium rum as they do on scotch, for example.”

The rum industry could and should take cues from other categories, Hamilton says. “The tequila industry now requires a NOM number on every bottle of real tequila, but the number of rums that have no path to origin is increasing every month.”

Having a definition to refer to on aged statements would certainly help, but as Leanne Ware, Mangrove head of marketing and brand strategy, says: “As we have seen in whisk(e)y, this regulation can still be confusing to the average consumer.”

So, what’s the answer? Perhaps educating the consumer on what to look for and to be more aware would help?

“In my opinion, there is a big challenge in ensuring everyone (trade and consumer) has a similar definition of what a dark or aged rum is,” Ware says. “For some, an aged rum is anything that has spent time in a barrel, whereas for others, it has to have spent a minimum duration in there. Similarly, you may get someone looking at a naval or demerara rum such as Skipper, and assuming that as it is so dark, it must have spent more time in the barrel too.”

Hamilton says talking is the only way to help the category. “Most consumers and bloggers would be surprised how many of the biggest names don’t even distill their own rum but buy distillate from other producers, but no one talks about it,” he says. “I understand PR agencies don’t want to say anything because they would like to get the PR check from the bigger brand, but hiding the origin of the juice in your bottle doesn’t help the industry in the long run.”

It will take time and a considerable amount of effort to educate the masses but there is knowledge at the grassroots, which is a start.

Seale says a small, enthusiastic and growing community knows what makes a good aged rum.

He adds: “We have a lot of remedial work to undo the damage from many brands who taught the sweetness from the added sugar/sweet wines was the sign of a quality aged rum.”

That’s not to say progress hasn’t been made. “We have made dramatic progress in the past five years in educating the trade on this. It will take more time to reach the average consumer level,” Seale says.

Zacapa’s De Rojas thinks it all depends on where the consumer is from. “In countries which have a long tradition of rum, such as Central America and the Caribbean, there is more understanding. However, the further you move from the source, and particularly in markets where aged rum is not so well established, the less people will understand.”

PRODUCTS

The speed at which new products are entering the market is a cause for much-needed celebration.

Seale says: “With recent success all of us have invested in more aged stocks and the traditional producers will continue to bring new, genuinely older rums to the market. I know we have some exciting releases planned, I doubt we are alone. Absolutely there is room, we have barely made inroads to the premium sector of the spirits. Rum has a great opportunity.”

Havana Club’s international marketing director, Nick Blacknell says the latest addition to its Tributo Collection, unveiled in February, is a great example of balancing innovation with quality. “Crafted by our Maestros del Ron Cubano, the 2017 edition is made from a blend of exceptional Havana Club rum reserves and aguardiente – or, spirit base – to achieve a unique rum with a distinctive dry note and an intriguing array of flavours, highlighting and paying homage to the finest Cuban sugar cane.”

In terms of new products, Hamilton says there is a finite number of distilleries at any time. “I’m seeing more rums coming to the market claiming to be from lost, forgotten distilleries, some of which are actually aged, and then there are those that are fast-ageing through the miracles of deceit and trickery,” he says. “Twenty five years ago I saw additives that were meant to fast age rums at distilleries in the Caribbean, they didn’t really work very well. Today the additives are more refined and the sales pitches to the distilleries and to me are more polished but you can’t age rum, or any other spirit, without that elusive ingredient of time.”

Aged rums tend to fall into the super-premium category, which saw 9% growth in the past year, according to the IWSR. These rums are recruiting consumers from other categories such as scotch and brandy.

“Asia and global travel retail present the greatest opportunity for dark aged rum as they represent almost half the ultra-premium spirit category market share,” Havana Club’s Blacknell says. “The growing middle classes around the world are resulting in more high-net worth individuals and it is they who are responsible for the premiumisation we’re starting to experience in the rum category, and have observed in the other categories in recent years.”

Zacapa’s De Rojas concurs: “There is a growing wave of consumers who are motivated by and see value in new and luxurious drinking experiences. As consumers increasingly learn to appreciate the nuances and complexities in quality sipping rums, this will create significant opportunity for growth – particularly for the ultra-premium tier.”

In terms of markets, Seale says the biggest are wherever scotch and cognac have led. “The best of rum can follow and surpass,” he adds.

According to IWSR, the largest premium and above rum markets by volume are the US, the Dominican Republic, Canada, Venezuela and the UK. De Rojas says the key markets for Zacapa tally with these territories. “But we are also focusing on promoting the benefits of aged rum to consumers in the US, Europe, Central and Latin America and global travel, as countries which might be further from our source of Guatemala, with a lower level of understanding on how rum is made.”

FUTURE

Alongside communication and education, many believe innovation is the key to unlocking the aged rum category.

“If you look at what has been happening in the gin category, there has been increased innovation from producers large and small in response to massive consumer demand,” De Rojas says. “This innovation is transcending categories and we are seeing a halo effect in the rum sector, especially with regards to premium or aged and spiced rum.”

Havana Club’s Blacknell agrees the future for the aged rum category is bright and that it has all the credentials to step up as the next experience in luxury spirits.

Hamilton is similarly optimistic of growth, but cautions: “After consumers become disenfranchised about all the additives and fake rums in the market, there will be a shakeout. Rum producers and importers need to take a page from the history of whisk(e)y and tequila. To reach its full potential the rum industry is going to have to be transparent and credible and the sooner it starts being accountable the further it is going to grow.”