Rum tasting guide

Attention, me Hearties!

In this post, I'll introduce you to the best practices for tasting rum. Properly tasting rum will help you enjoy what's in your glass more and allow you to make informed choices when buying a new bottle in the future. We'll first go over the essentials, then get into the practicalities, followed by some tips for identifying aromas and flavors.

What do you need?

The right glass

Tasting is best done in a glass that's appropriate for the occasion. The best glasses are those that combine a balloon and tulip shape. You can find elegant stemmed glasses, modern designer glasses, and many more, but the best glass, especially when considering the price-quality ratio, remains the classic Glencairn glass.

The shape is important because the domed shape allows you to preserve aromas and warm the glass with your hands. The chimney, in turn, provides a very even and controlled opening for the aroma. Don't have a glass in this shape? Try to find one that most closely resembles it, such as a balloon or port glass, but avoid glasses like tumblers, which preserve absolutely no aroma.

Use a different glass for each rum. If you only use one glass, the flavors will inevitably blend, which is undesirable. Using a separate glass for each rum also gives you a nice bonus at the end, which you can discover later in this post.

Check all your glasses at the start. You should detect any dirt, strange odors, cracks, etc. before you begin. This way, you avoid unpleasant surprises during the tasting.

Palette Cleansers

Palette cleansers are essential for a good tasting experience. They prevent the flavors of different rums from mixing. Before starting and between glasses, they help neutralize your palate. Palette cleansers are very neutral in themselves and thus aid the process.

The best palette cleanser is, of course, tap water. Try to avoid using mineral water as much as possible, as minerals will affect your taste.

Bread is also a good palette cleanser. Light bread helps absorb flavors and is very effective, especially when combined with water.

Other palette cleansers include dark chocolate, light green banana, and red apple, but keep in mind that dark chocolate has a very bitter taste and isn't for everyone. 70-80% chocolate does work, but much less effectively than the pure form.

Neutralizing Smells

The nose is also important. Tasting is primarily about smelling, so it's also necessary to reset your sense of smell every now and then. You can easily do this by smelling coffee beans. So fill a glass or jar with coffee beans and you'll notice that when you smell them, your scent will suddenly become much more intense.

Set the Mood

The environment for your tasting is crucial. Rum tasting is a form of meditation. You must be able to work very calmly and with concentration. Make sure you are in a pleasant environment, that you have all the necessary supplies with you, that you will not be disturbed, and that the environment is also free of unpleasant or excessive smells and sounds. The tasting should be done calmly and in a very relaxed setting.

TIP: The best time of day to taste is 11:00 AM.

In practice

Always start by taking a sip of water and let it run over your entire tongue to ensure all flavor residues are removed. This way, you start with a clean slate.

When pouring your rum, it's important to remember that you are about to taste. Don't pour more than you need to taste. I recommend pouring 1.5 to 2cl. You can always top up later. In any case, try to avoid filling your glass more than halfway. You want to maximize your aroma at all times, so pouring too much rum reduces the reservoir where that aroma can be stored.

Tasting always begins with looking. Hold your glass in front of you and look at what's in it. Assess the color, purity, and viscosity. These elements, combined with the information on the bottle, can tell you more about what to expect. Those new to rum won't learn much from this at first, but it's important as a mental note for learning to compare, and even recognize, maturations, origins, and alcohol percentages in the future.

Swirling is absolutely not necessary. Rum evolves with temperature, not through oxidation. Swirling can be fun sometimes, but keep in mind that excessive swirling can cause alcohol to build up in your glass. More on that later.

Also, feel your glass. If your glass feels cold, hold it in your hands for a moment to warm it up a bit.

Next comes the process of 'smelling'. Know that your sense of smell will completely influence what you taste. It's therefore crucial that you fully utilize your nose. Make sure you breathe freely and first smell those coffee beans.

Don't immediately bury your nose in your glass; you'll regret it. Hold your glass at chest height, under your nose. You'll detect some aromas anyway. Then slowly bring your glass closer to your nose. This ensures your scent sensors aren't overwhelmed and allows you to learn to detect subtle aromas as well.

Once you reach your nose, you can fully enjoy the aromas. Do you notice that you only detect strong aromas or only alcohol? That's possible. This often happens when you swirl too much or when your bottle has gone from cold to warm. In that case, simply blow into your glass. It removes the unpleasant layer and makes room for more delicate aromas.

Also try smelling with each nostril separately. You can do this by tilting your glass next to your nostril. This way, you "pour" the scent into your nose.

Keep in mind that smelling is done gently. Inhaling or sniffing heavily isn't the intention and can result in an unpleasant, burning sensation in your nose that ruins the rest of the tasting. Relax, take it easy, and enjoy.

Looked and smelled? Then let's taste. Tasting is a process that requires a lot of time.

Start by gently bringing your glass to your mouth and taking a very small amount. Your body, especially if you don't often drink spirits, will react with a slight burning sensation. This is your body's reflex to warn you that you're drinking alcohol. This isn't harmful, but it shouldn't persist. If you continue to experience a burning sensation, it might be due to a spicy or salty meal beforehand. In that case, stop the tasting and try some palate cleansers to solve the problem. If that doesn't work either, Then call it a day and try again the next day.

After the first sip, take a slightly larger amount in your mouth. Now comes the tricky part: to fully enjoy your rum, it's important not to swallow immediately. Our natural reflex is to always want to swallow, but you have to learn to suppress this, for two reasons. First, holding the rum in your mouth longer gives your taste buds more time to identify the subtle flavors. This adds depth to the experience and allows you to focus on nuances. Second, holding the rum in your mouth longer allows for a natural drainage thanks to your saliva. For rums around 40% ABV, this won't be so important, but with higher ABVs, it can make a huge difference. While alcohol may be a flavor enhancer, at some point it can become overpowering, especially for those just starting out. So take it easy.

After this second sip, it's important not to immediately go back to the process of smelling and tasting. Once you swallow, you still have the finish and the return. The finish is what remains on your palate and undergoes its own flavor evolution. The return is the portion of flavor that returns through the part of the throat where the trachea connects. Both elements are an integral part of the experience.

Don't forget to reset your palate and sense of smell before starting the next rum.

Is your glass empty? Don't rinse it immediately, but let it sit and dry. Once your glass has dried, you'll still detect many delicious aromas. From sweet to woody to fruity: you'll discover wonderful things in it.

Recognizing Flavors

Many people dream of being able to recognize all kinds of flavors in rum. Some bottles will explain which aromas and flavors are present in your glass, but how do you do that yourself?

Experience and training are important here, but so is a dose of self-reflection. Always start with the aromas you might already recognize: wood, sugar, grass, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, thyme, licorice, banana, pineapple, etc. Try to recognize them and place them in your memory. If you want to identify more flavors, it's important to experience them first. You can buy very extensive (and often expensive) kits with samples of herbs and spices, but the easiest way is to regularly acquire a few spices to help you remember the scent. Note: Rum cannot be compared to other spirits. Rum has a much more extensive flavor palette than other spirits and sometimes contains flavors and aromas we don't (often) experience. Take Jamaican High Ester, for example. These rums sometimes have the aroma and taste of silage. Those who live in the countryside will recognize this immediately. Those who live in the city often find it unpleasant without being able to put a name to it. Freshly picked tropical fruit, or the other way around: rotten fruit, is also something we're usually not familiar with. So you'll have to put in a bit more effort for that.

That's why it's also important to put things into perspective: many of the things you'll find on a bottle have been attributed by someone who specializes in them. It's absolutely fine if you don't smell or taste them yourself. You don't have the same olfactory and palate, and even if you had the same experience, you'll usually have different experiences. I've been active in the industry for years, and I can't identify many things. In retrospect, that's not very important. The only thing that really matters is whether you like it.

Now back to work, you Scallywags.