It’s hard to believe that this year is the seventh annual edition of the Rum Awards, a celebration of rum that was one of the earliest innovations of Caribbean Journal. And it’s just as remarkable how much rum has changed in these seven years.
Today, an increasingly knowledgable consumer base is appreciating the unparalleled diversity and romance of rum — but also asking more of rum companies, pushing them to launch more sophisticated, more authentic — and more premium — expressions.
Consumers are also beginning to discover the joy of the world of Rhum Agricole, a small fraction of global production that manages to produce a wide-ranging, artisanal, terroir-focused offering that includes some of the greatest cane spirits you will find anywhere.
It all means that rum is in a very good place, whether one is starting his or her rum journey or taking trips to collect rare bottlings in the far corners of the West Indies.
It also means that every year the judging for the Rum Awards gets more difficult, as the Rum Journal team travels across the Caribbean region, visiting distilleries and sampling rums (and sampling them again). This year, we began the judging with a dossier of more than 200 rums tasted, one that eventually whittled down to a field of 12 rums for the Rum of the Year category.
This year’s final judging was conducted again at the terrific Casa de Montecristo by Prime Cigar in Miami, where the Rum Journal panel conducted six rounds of spirited tasting and eventually settled on the winners.
This year’s slate of winners is as impressive as ever, hailing from across the Caribbean and the United States and demonstrating, again, the wonder of the world of rum.
But remember, as we like to say at Rum Journal, the best rum in the world is the rum that’s in your glass right now.
Rum of the Year: Havana Club Seleccion de Maestros, Cuba Each year, choosing the Rum of the Year gets more difficult. More and more producers are making exceptional aged rums, using new blending and aging techniques, experimenting with special finishes and helping to raise the perception of premium rum in the marketplace. But this year’s winner was a veritable institution of the rum world, from one of the great rum producing countries of the world. Havana Club, Cuba’s flagship rum, produces a broad portfolio of expressions, from traditional white rum to rums specifically blended to be smoked with Cohibas. But this year, its signature ultra-premium rum took home the crown. Havana Club’s Seleccion de Maestros, bottled at a robust 45 degrees, is a blend of reserve-stock rums, brought together by the company’s master rum makers. After multiple rounds of judging, the Havana Club held up against all competitors, thanks to its hallmark: a truly remarkable balance. This is a delicate, luxurious rum that just kept holding up after repeated tasting, one that is consistent from start to finish and that simply begs you to pour another glass. Plainly, it’s an exquisite rum.
Double Gold: El Pasador de Oro Rum XO, Guatemala
Gold: El Dorado 21 Year Old Rum, Guyana
Silver: Angostura 1824, Trinidad
Bronze: Chairman’s Reserve 1931, Saint Lucia
Rhum Agricole of the Year: JM Multimillesime, Martinique Rum aficionados know Rhum JM. They know its storied past, its privileged plantation perch at the foot of a volcano in Martinique. On the island and abroad, it’s a rum that’s in the rum pantheon, one with almost mythical status. And that can all sound like hyperbole — until you try it for the first time. But one of the company’s latest expressions is something else entirely. JM has unveiled what it calls a “Multimillesime,” or multiple-vintage, that blends the vintages of 2002, 2007 and 2009 into one of the greatest rhum agricoles you will ever try. It’s a true masterpiece, a must for any collector, an extraordinary spirit — and from a distillery like JM, that really says something.
Double Gold: Rhum La Favorite Reserve de la Chateau 2002, Martinique
Gold: Rhum Clement Colonne Creole Rhum Vieux, Martinique
Silver: Trois Rivieres Oman Rhum Vieux Agricole, Martinique
Bronze: Rhum HSE Single Malt Finish Highland
Best New Rum: One Drop, Harbour Island, Bahamas Harbour Island isn’t like other places in the Caribbean — or even in The Bahamas for that matter. It’s a bit like an English-speaking St Barth, chic but carefree, charming but unpretentious. And it’s also an island that loves its rum. That was how the island’s Afrohead rum was born a few years back — and now Toby Tyler, the master blender behind Afrohead, is at it again, this time with a blend of 10-year-old and 12-year-old Jamaican juice. The result is a rum (hand-bottled on Harbour Island) that is delightfully drinkable, with a fruit-forward flavor profile and a funky but velvety finish. It’s not like other Jamaican rums, and that’s cool — it’s kind of a new interpretation of that island’s spirit, and a rum that’s made for, well, people who like rum. And it’s the best new rum of 2018.
Best New Rhum Agricole: Rhum Depaz Cuvee Victor Depaz, Martinique Rhum Depaz, set on a centuries-old plantation at the foot of Martinique’s Mont Pelee, has been a fixture in the Rum Awards for years, thanks largely to an almost unbeatable output of very old rums, from its Cuvee Prestige to its Grand Saint Pierre expression. But one of its newest entries is particularly interesting. It’s called Cuvee Victor Depaz, named for the founder of the estate. It’s a blend of rums aged for three and four years in American oak — so something that’s effectively a mix of VO and VSOP rums. The result? Something surprisingly special, a bit smoother around the edges than most of Depaz’s stuff (at 40 degrees), with notes of vanilla and candied fruit and grilled pineapple, with another level of drinkability for the brand. The best part? It’s one of the great values in the rum world, priced at around $20.
Rum Company of the Year: St Lucia Distillers When it comes to molasses-based rum in the English-speaking Caribbean, the rum world tends to focus on Jamaica and Barbados. It’s not surprising, considering both countries’ centuries of high-level rummaking. But it’s time for one company to get its regional due: St Lucia Distillers, Saint Lucia’s premier rum company, that consistently puts out a world-class range of expressions that is as authentically made as it is diverse. And it’s the latter that is perhaps most impressive: whether you’re trying the locally-popular Bounty Gold Rum, the Chairman’s Reserve Forgotten Cask, Admiral Rodney or 1931, every marque is unique. Indeed, they all have their own character, their own personality. And it’s a testament to what passionate local rummaking can achieve.
Best White Rum: Koloa Kaua’i White Rum, Hawaii It’s a testament to the worldwide surge of rum that distilleries are popping up everywhere, whether in the heart of Brooklyn, in the mountains of Colorado — or even in Hawaii. What you might not know is that there’s a long tradition of sugar production — and rum production — in the Hawaiian Islands, and the archipelago’s top producer right now is Koloa, set on the lush island of Kau’ai that first launched in 2009. And while the company makes a range of aged and flavored expressions, its white rum is unusually good. There’s just something remarkably clean about this cooper pot-still rum, something beyond the smoothness and the cane and-citrus-zest notes. It’s best used in a daiquiri, but it could hold its own on the rocks, too — the true test of any white rum.
Best White Rum Agricole: A1710 La Perle Brute, Martinique In a small plantation in the northeast of Martinique, a tiny distillery is quietly reinventing the world of white rhum agricole. This is A1710, and the boutique rum producer is making rhum blanc that is almost an entirely category. It comes from a reimagining of the spirit: not simply as an ingredient in a ti’ punch, but something more, something with overwhelming personality, that celebrates its artisanal nature, that celebrates its terroir (indeed, it even celebrates the cane-grower himself). The brand’s latest expression is yet another stunner: the 66-degree, simultaneously robust, funky, sophisticated, elegant La Perle Brute that is a journey right into the cane itself.
Best Spiced Rum: Clifton Estate, Nevis It just might be the most stunning win of this year’s awards. Sarasota-based Siesta Key Rum had won this category every year since the Rum Awards’ inception. But we have a new winner. Tiny Nevis and its leading rum expert, Mark Theron, have produced a delightful, honest, truly Caribbean spiced rum that simply wowed us this year. It’s got some punch, but it’s also got the smoothness that so many spiced rums typically lack — making it, yes, sippable. So what’s in it? A two-year-old dark rum, with natural spices, and perhaps most welcome, infused orange – which, along with honey and the rest of the “secret” spice blend make for a truly wonderful rum.
Best Gold Rum: Island Company Rum, Trinidad What is gold rum? It’s something that’s become an institution on liquor store shelves; on rum labels all over the Caribbean. While a segment of the rum industry has been fighting back against somewhat nebulous labels like these, arguing instead for a far-too-byzantine classification system that will only confuse consumers further, gold rum is pretty easy to understand. It’s not unaged white rum, but it’s also only aged for a few years, somewhat akin to the VO label in Rhum Agricole. But we digress. We’ve been doing a Gold Rum category since the Rum Awards began — in large part because these rums occupy a popular segment of the consumer market. So what’s the best of 2018? It’s the Trinidad-sourced Island Company Rum, an eminently drinkable expression that’s quintessentially Trini — but also a bit smoother and refined, perfect for cocktails but one that can hold its own neat, something that can’t be said for the vast majority of “gold” rums.
Best Overproof Rum: Sunset Very Strong Rum, St Vincent and the Grenadines They say it’s so strong you can’t bring it on the plane back with you — but we say it’s worth the risk to haul back one of the Caribbean’s most legendary expressions. Bottled at 169 proof, St Vincent Distillers’ overproof masterwork is powerful to be sure, but also smooth — so smooth that the locals in Kingstown will promise you there’s no hangover in the morning. And guess what? Our research shows it to be true.
Best Bottle Design: Rhum Dillon Farandole When it comes to bottle design, the island of Martinique continues to lead the pack, with local producers most often taking artistic risks with their white rums. This year, it was Fort-de-France-based Rhum Dillon that took the crown, with the company’s inspired, beautiful painted scenes of traditional culture and rum life in Martinique, with winding yellow stripes and multi-color sketches of rum lovers. It’s almost too beautiful to drink. Almost.
Rum Bar of the Year: Rhum Room St Barth The Rhum Room had only been open for a few months last year when it took the crown as our global rum bar of the year. Now things are getting even more interesting — and it’s done it again. What had already been the Caribbean’s largest commercial collection of rum and rhum agricole has increased with more than 600 rums on offer and the largest rhum agricole selection of any bar in the Western Hemisphere (and perhaps the world). Rum expert Christopher Davis has cultivated an enviable portfolio of superb rums — and, happily, most served at prices that encourage exploration. Add that to regular rum master classes and an on-site humidor and cigar lounge and you have the gold standard for rum bars anywhere.
Person of the Year: Gregory Vernant, Rhum Neisson, Martinique
A few hundred feet from the beach in the tiny town of Le Carbet in Martinique is a shrine of Caribbean rum-making. Here in the cane fields of Carbet is Neisson, one of the most venerable distilleries in the Caribbean, a boutique producer that occupies a rather hallowed space on this French Caribbean island. And the man behind it all is CEO Gregory Neisson, who has been thrusting an historic distillery into the 21st century, making world-class rums and breaking new ground, too — whether he’s experimenting with different barrel char patterns or, more notably, launching the Caribbean’s first certified organic rum. We are honored to celebrate Gregory Vernant as the Rum Awards’ Person of the Year for his continued, substantial contribution to the world of rum.