by Manos Angelakis

“Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest,
Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of Rum”
Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”

Rum (or rhum as the French call it) has a special place in the culture of the West Indies and a number of the Central American countries, and had an intimate connection with mariners, especially the British Royal Navy, and the pirates that used to ply the Caribbean waters.

Rum is created by distilling fermented concentrated cane juice, or molasses. All rums come out of the still as clear, colorless spirits, but barrel aging and, sometimes, the use of added caramel determines the liquor’s final color and sweetness. Heavy rums are usually distilled in pot stills; similar to those used to produce Scotch whiskies. Pot stills are less "efficient" than column stills and some congeners (traces of fusel oils and other aromatic elements) are carried over with the alcohol, giving each rum its distinct nose and palate. Some brands are made by blending pot and column distilled spirits in a manner similar to the production of Armagnac. Vintage dated rums indicate age by stating the youngest rum in the blend (e.g., 10-year-old rum contains a blend of rums that are at least 10 years old).

In 1887, in Martinique, Homère Clément bought a 300-acre sugar plantation, Domaine de l’Acajou, and decided to make rum in the style of Cognac, where they first made grape wine, and then distill it and age it into cognac. He used the fermented juice of crushed sugarcane instead of processing the juice into sugar and molasses, and then making rum from the watered down, fermented molasses. The free-run juice ferments naturally for several days into a sugarcane wine, which retains all the complex tastes and aromas of sugarcane. The aroma is warm and slightly fruity with tropical tones, floral with hints of spice and musk. It has a perfumed character that is very sensual. In the Clément case, the liquid is distilled in a single-column copper still, placed in steel tanks to mellow for nine months, and then is bottled as a white spirit or barreled and aged. A mix of French- and American- oak barriques is used by the cellar master to impart the intense fragrance and complex aromas and deep amber color to the rum.

The top-of-the-line Rhum Clément X.O. is a blend of hand selected aged rums, 25 years and older. Each vintage brings its own particular aroma and taste elements that combine to give X.O. its unique flavor profile. The color is dark amber gold/brown, bright and clear. The palate is floral, slightly sweet, and silky smooth with wood notes, dark dried fruit, and a fair amount of oak around the edges. The nose shows fruitcake, saddle leather, toffee, honey, vanilla, spice, and cigarbox aromas, which gives this rum its complexly luscious feel. I consider X.O. to be a sipping rum, to be enjoyed in the same manner as a single malt or a good, aged Cognac. This rum really highlights the difference between a sugarcane-juice rum, and a molasses rum. The rum is packaged in a flattened teardrop shaped decanter with gold neck, gold script, and an incised seal with a crown at top and an engraved drawing of the Plantation house on the front of the bottle. At retail of under $140, it is worth every penny. I own a bottle and I rarely share it with friends.

Another outstanding rum from the same producer is Rhum Clément Cuvée Homère. This particular version is a hand selected blend of vintage rums, the best of the last 15 years. As in the X.O., each vintage brings its own flavor profile making it a very complex rum with tremendous flavors and a long lasting finish. The color is a medium teak (also known as Havana), with orange/yellow/brown highlights. The palate is highly nuanced and textured, with floral and wood notes - sweet licorice is predominant - dry, and slightly briny on the medium-long finish. Long legs develop when swirled. A nutty, herbal, and coffee/pepper nose has a velvety, lingering finish. It is packaged in a rhomboid decanter. Gold script and a silk-screened line drawing of the Plantation house, which is seen through the liquid, decorate the decanter. At a retail of under $100, it is an excellent sipping rum.

A third product from Clément is the Créole Shrubb, a blend of white and aged rums, cane syrup and Caribbean spices, and bitter orange peel macerated in the rum. It is a perfect ingredient for mixing in cocktails without the base loosing its personality. Wonderfully nutty, musky, orangey, and buttery. I happily replaced the well-known French Orange liqueur with the Shrubb, for some of my cocktail recipes, since Shrubb is considerably drier. The suggested retail is under $30.

The final product I tasted was the Rhum Clément V.S.O.P., a Rhum Agricole Vieux A.O.C. Martinique. This venerable, mahogany hued rum is a blend of well aged components from the Clément Estate which is now recognized as an A.O.C. It has a soft, medium weight body; beautiful flavors of chocolate, figs, vanilla, and ripe black fruit; and a spicy, bitter almond nose. It makes an outstanding base for tropical cocktails, but can also stand on its own in a snifter. Suggested retail under $35 and for that price few other rums can match the quality.

© August 2008 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.