Post #607945 by djmont on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 1:31 PM

To try to draw a distinction between "gold" and "amber" when it comes to rum seems pointless and arbitrary. In terms of color, the two terms are very similar, and gold is rendered in a darker/deeper hue than amber as often as it is lighter. Even more importantly, given its arbitrary nature, it's not a good indicator of the flavor profiles of the spirits.

Ed Hamilton, the noted rum authority, goes even further. He draws the distinction simply between white rums and dark rums. I tend to prefer acknowledging a middle ground -- mostly because the terminology is more familiar to a lot of people -- but this dichotomy does make sense. Ultimately the color of the rum does not bear a necessary correlation to the flavor of the rum. Aged rum, for example, can be filtered to remove the color. And many so-called "dark rums" (like Coruba) have caramel added to them to give them a darker color.

So the color is important for visual reasons in a cocktail -- e.g., a Daiquiri should be clear -- but it's the FLAVOR that matters for the taste of the cocktail.