Black Tot Rum, Sipped From Eye Dropper, Warms Heart, Drains Wallet: Review
Ron Zacapa Centenario Gran Reserva
Zacapa via Bloomberg
A bottle of Ron Zacapa Centenario Gran Reserva rum ($45). On the Ministry of Rum website enthusiasts have ranked the rum as their favorite bottle.
A bottle of Ron Zacapa Centenario Gran Reserva rum ($45). On the Ministry of Rum website enthusiasts have ranked the rum as their favorite bottle. Source: Zacapa via Bloomberg
Agua Libre
St. George Spirits via Bloomberg
A bottle of Agua Libre rum. Modern distilleries are adding rums to their lineups as consumers look for higher-end versions.
A bottle of Agua Libre rum. Modern distilleries are adding rums to their lineups as consumers look for higher-end versions. Source: St. George Spirits via Bloomberg
Smuggler's Cove
Jennifer Yin/Smuggler's Cove via Bloomberg
Smuggler's Cove bar in San Francisco. Rum has become more popular in the U.S. in part due to the revival of Polynesian-themed rooms that serve exotic rum-based tropical drinks.
Smuggler's Cove bar in San Francisco. Rum has become more popular in the U.S. in part due to the revival of Polynesian-themed rooms that serve exotic rum-based tropical drinks. Photographer: Jennifer Yin/Smuggler's Cove via Bloomberg
I recently sipped an ultra-exclusive liquor called Black Tot at the San Francisco Bay Ministry of Rum Festival. The honey-colored liquid is so rare and expensive ($1,000) that tasters were only granted a few milliliters from an eye dropper.
The 108.6-proof drink came from one of about 1,000 remaining bottles of British Royal Navy rum, which was imbibed daily by sailors for almost 300 years until the tradition was discontinued in 1970. Black Tot is extremely smooth, with flavors of dark molasses and smoke.
“It’s a piece of history,” distributor Eric Seed said.
Black Tot is one of several just-released high-end rums. Jamaica’s Appleton Estate, which sells rums aged 12 and 21 years, announced in 2009 that it would bring out a 30-year-old version. That bottle, which sells for $375, has wonderful candied lime and burnt brown sugar notes, with a hint of fresh- cut grass.
“Rum is very hot right now,” said Amy Murray, the buyer for San Francisco liquor store Cask. Pun perhaps intended as we approach the season for hot toddies.
The shop is no stranger to pricey bottles; its stock includes Highland Park 40-year-old scotch for $3,250, Nolet’s Reserve Gin Dry for $675 and Hirsch Reserve 16-year-old bourbon for $500. Knowledgeable customers have been asking about the Black Tot and Appleton 30-year-old as well, Murray said.
Tiki Bars
Murray said the rum revival has been spurred by the resurgence of tiki bars, those kitschy Polynesian-themed rooms such as Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco that serve exotic tropical drinks.
Rum is the third-most popular spirit in the U.S., with 14 percent of the market. (Vodka ranks first, with 35 percent, followed by whiskey, with 23 percent, according to data from Nielsen Co.) Sales of the fastest-growing category, known as ultra-premium, increased 9 percent for the fiscal year ending Sept. 18. Sales of value-priced spirits were flat during the same period.
Tylor Field III, vice president of Wine & Spirits for Morton’s Restaurant Group Inc., said rum is changing from a cheap mixer to something worth drinking on its own.
“For the connoisseur, rum can be sipped just like people are sipping tequila now,” he said. “Ten years ago, nobody would have thought about that; everything would have gone into a margarita.”
Bigger Selection
Edward Hamilton runs Ministry of Rum, an online forum and message board for enthusiasts. When he started his website in 1997, there were fewer than 10 rums available at the country’s biggest liquor store in Chicago. Today, many stores offer more than 50 choices.
Hamilton’s website reflects that growth, more than doubling its visitors over the past three years.
Visitors to the website have ranked Zacapa’s Ron Zacapa Centenario Gran Reserva ($45) as their favorite rum. The Guatemalan-made spirit is dark and spicy, with sweet cedar notes on the finish.
Hamilton said many of the best rums sell for less than $45, making them a bargain compared to comparably priced bottles of scotch.
Modern distilleries are starting to reintroduce the drink to their lineups. St. George Spirits in Alameda, California, best known for its Hanger One vodka, recently started selling a new line of rums made from sugar cane grown in the U.S.
The Agua Libre bottles come in two versions: a dark spirit aged for 2 1/2 years in French oak and an unaged white rum called Fresh Squeezed.
Smuggler’s Cove owner Martin Cate sells more than 200 types of rum, including Black Tot.
(Ryan Flinn is a reporter for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Flinn in San Francisco at rflinn@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
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