Post #315242 by martiki on Wed, Jun 27, 2007 9:58 AM

On 2007-06-22 10:06, Swanky wrote:

Pot distilled is the prefered way. And all rum is 170-200 proof when distilled, and virtually the same as vodka. Colorless, high octane hooch. Single or double distilled will make a difference in this first product. Double distilled will give more flavor. It is the aging that makes it what it is for the most part. The barrels, the flavorings, etc. You can actually take the distilled starting stuff and put it in a barrel and make other liquor with it if you add the right stuff and certainly the right barrel. But rum is often aged in Bourbon barrels...

Sorry, Tim- but this is quite wrong. Rum is distilled to variety of proofs. By law, AOC Rhum Agricole cannot be distilled higher than 160, and is more likely to be distilled to 140. It is most definitely nothing like vodka. Santa Teresa from Venezuela is only distilled to proof, like a pisco, to 80 proof. This leaves it hugely full bodied right off the still. Pot stills do leave more flavor, but are incredibly inefficient compared to column stills, which is why most good rums are a blend of both- it would be too expensive to run an all pot still operation.

"Double distilled" is not something you would ever do on a column still, and if you do it on a pot still, it further removes flavor and character, it does not add to it.

Aging in oak does add the color and a great deal of the flavor, but there must be character to start with, unlike a grain neutral spirit.

And this: "You can actually take the distilled starting stuff and put it in a barrel and make other liquor with it if you add the right stuff and certainly the right barrel." is just not true at all, either in terms of the ingredients or the laws defining how spirits are produced. A corn/rye distillate in a barrel is simply not going to become rum- it's going to be whiskey.