Is Continental European Aged Rum better than Tropically Aged Rum?
In February this year Alexandre Gabriel, owner of Maison Ferrand, the producers of Plantation rum gave an interview to David Driscoll of K&L Wine Merchants. A popular Wine and Spirits retailer based in the US.
Over the past few years, Alexandre and more specifically Plantation rum have been held up by many as the “poster boys” for adulterated rum. This is partly due to the fact that until very recently ALL their rums had what Alexandre refers to as “dosage”. The reality is, that whilst Plantation do add sugar (an aged sugar syrup), they don’t usually add the huge amounts favoured by some other “Premium” rum producers. Nor as far as I am aware, do they add things such as Glycerin or essences.
Rum is Fun so the mantra goes. I once asked Dave Broom if rum needed to lose its “fun” tag to improve its image. Dave’s overwhelming response was a very definite no. He has even mentioned me posing the question in his latest rum book The Manual.