Rum content in a blend

Paul B - The deterioration of flavor happens not because of the sugar itself, but because the producers who sugar their rum often bottle it underproof to achieve that desirable "smooth" flavor. See this page: http://thefatrumpirate.com/hydrometer-tests-2 El Dorado lists 28.5% ABV versus the declared 40%. Since the flavor and aromatic compounds are diluted in alcohol, and not water, less alcohol means the aroma and flavor is gone sooner.

Jakub, to answer your question about age percentage differences in EU versus USA, I have no idea and this is the first time that I was even made aware of this. I will continue to buy ED12, but since it is a sugar bomb that starts losing it's original flavor after two months, I always have a Date Opened column in my spreadsheet. If a rum has less than 20 gpl of added sugar, deterioration in flavor does not seem to happen. I found out the hard way. Two of the most deceptive rums that I will never buy again are Zacapa 23 and Zaya 12. If we all put our foot down and refuse to buy deceivers like these, maybe that can force these snakes to come clean with truthful age statements. However, I realistically don't see that happening. Papa's Pilar has accurate age statements of contents on their bottles that are blended in Key West in the USA. There is only one problem with their rums: the master blender apparently has no taste at all. The bottle and age statements impressed me and got my money for the dark and the blonde, but never again.

Thank you all for the advices. Ill give it a shot. Dictador 12y already at home. It will go away as present but I think it will not last unopened during that event. Still about the rum content. I suppose it has something to do with the legislation. I have heard that in Europe if the company is marking a blend with age mark, they can use the oldest rum age in a blend. However in the US it is exactly the opposite. This is some serious difference. Therefore El Dorado 12y in the US must taste completely different than in EU. Is that correct ? Still I have no idea how to find out that someone is using 50% of 12y in a 12y blend and someone only 10%.

Jakub, try Dictador 12 from Columbia. Like Barbados, Columbia does not add sugar to their rums. Dictador also uses barrels that had been used to age aguardiente, so those barrels are basically sweetened from the start. Dictador 12 is a mildly sweet rum that has no added sugar. Besides Barbados and Columbia, rums from Don Q and Cruzan have no added sugar (and both are very affordable). The problem with aging rum is that the taste can get quite bland, so many distillers add sugar and other additives. The ones that don't add anything need carefully chosen barrels. I find that uncharred oak barrels produce the best for my tastes. For me McCoy rums tend to taste too much like American bourbon because they use charred oak barrels. I absolutely hate rums aged in sherry barrels.

Thanks, Paul. I have the same rule. But I am really disappointed that what I like is artificially made better with post-processing. How would those taste without sugar ? Probably so bad I would not even think about buying them again. My main problem with sweetened rums is that I do not like dry rums too much. Therefore I will probably still buy some. I was looking for a sweet/sweeter rum with 0 added sugar but I have no Idea at this moment what to look for.

Welcome Jakub! You have come across the good, the bad, and the ugly in a very short time. Because of all of the different islands and countries where rum is made, there is no set rule for age statements. So they use the excuse of "solera", which means anyone's guess as to what percentage of aged rum is inside. They like to keep it as a mystery and you are not the only one to get bothered with this. Since we will never know, I just use the old rule that if I like it, then I buy it. And thank goodness for Captain Jimbo! Since I have all of the rums that I have rated on this site ranked in order with cost, my B/C ratio tells me if I should buy it again. For instance, Plantation XO tastes just great when first opened, but due to it's high cost, I do not rate it as a good buy. It also loses it's flavor after about two months, which caused it to fall down in my rankings. Also beware of the highly rated Zacapa 23, which is not 23 years old.