1957 Bacardi

I just obtained this bottle of rum. I am not normally a Bacardi fan, but this is a lot better tasting than any I have tried. I really didn't expect it to be any good, but it hada light molasses flavor, slightly smoky overtones, and tasted a little like a good mellow whiskey. Is this the way it is supposed to taste or did it "change" in the bottle. I know it sat in the dark in a basement for at least 30 years.

Any thoughts?

JP

Wow, what a find! You are very lucky! To my knowledge, the aging process takes place in the barrel, not in the bottle. Perhaps some mellowing does go on over a long time in the bottle, but it is the interaction of the rum with the wood of the cask that contributes to the flavor. Rums age like whiskey in the cask, and very often a cask that was previously used to age Port or some other wine is desirable. The flavors of the oak and the previous contents contribute to the flavor of the rum over a long period of time. That bottle looks like it was aged for a while before being bottled, hence the label. Most rums are aged for a year or two, then bottled; some vintage rums for a few more. Bacardi 8 is one of my new favorites; it is aged for (you guessed it) eight years. In the "what is your favorite rum" thread, I recount an encounter with a vintage rum from 1937.

Yeah, it stops aging in the traditional sense once it goes in the bottle. But, over that amount of time, there was probably some evaporation. This can concentrate and improve the rum (unlike in wine when it is called ullage and it oxidizes/ruins the wine). The same evaporation happens in the barrel--it is sometimes referred to as the "Angel's share".

BTW, I have it from Edward Hamilton over on the Ministry of Rum site that Bacardi 8 isn't aged 8 years. I like the stuff, but the name might be kind of a marketing thing...

http://www.ministryofrum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4&highlight=bacardi+8