{"id":13018,"date":"2024-02-29T13:10:42","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T12:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rhumfestparis.com\/?p=13018"},"modified":"2024-03-26T09:22:08","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T08:22:08","slug":"white-rum-from-south-east-asia-get-to-the-bottom-of-the-bottle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rhumfestparis.com\/en\/white-rum-from-south-east-asia-get-to-the-bottom-of-the-bottle\/","title":{"rendered":"White rum from South-East Asia, get to the bottom of the bottle"},"content":{"rendered":"

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White rum from Southeast Asia, get to the bottom of the bottle<\/strong><\/h5>\n

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Why does a white rum from Southeast Asia develop this aromatic profile? Let’s go from the bottle to the cane to find out.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"Rhum<\/p>\n

As you browse the shelves of your favorite specialty store<\/strong>, you come across a bottle of white rum with an illustration on the label that reminds you of Asia<\/strong>.Curious, and armed with your wine merchant’s sound advice, you leave with a bottle under your arm.<\/p>\n

It’s a rum produced in Southeast Asia<\/strong>: Thailand, Vietnam and Laos<\/strong> all produce cane distillates.<\/p>\n

Impatient to discover what it has to offer, you open the bottle, pour a few centiliters into your tasting glass (yes, white rum can be tasted too).<\/p>\n

You’ll be surprised to discover fresh, herbal, floral and fruity notes<\/strong>. Very expressive, it’s not without roundness, almost mellowness.<\/p>\n

From your meagre experience, you tell yourself that it resembles the white rums from Guadeloupe and Martinique to which you are more accustomed, with a little something extra, a slightly marine or metallic note<\/strong> perhaps?<\/p>\n

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We’re geographically far from the French West Indies, so how is this relationship possible?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Puzzled, you decide to pour a few centilitres of this “white” rum<\/strong> into another glass, to check your first impression. Same thing.<\/p>\n

Trust our nose! It’s not your nose that’s deceiving you, it’s your eyes. One of the distinctive features of Cuban rum is that all its expressions are aged<\/strong>, and some are whitened<\/strong>. Yes, yes, you read that right.<\/p>\n

In this case, the aged rum – which has taken on a few colors – is filtered over activated charcoal<\/strong> to remove any coloration. Also, since Cuban rum is legally at least 2 years old<\/strong> (we’ll come back to this), your white rum will have aromas that originate from the barrel, with vanilla and caramel<\/strong> topping the list.<\/p>\n

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To recap: the rum is aged, then blanched, so it retains the aromas of aging, but will be translucent.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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First and foremost, the most obvious common denominator, which literally jumps out at you: it’s translucent<\/strong>. This is simply because it has not been aged.<\/strong> So, there’s no impact of the wood, since the liquid hasn’t been in contact with a barrel. It’s the raw material that fully expresses itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And, as you know, the vast majority of rums produced are made from molasses. But here, the aromas are too vegetal and fresh; they don’t stick.<\/p>\n

Your nostrils have not deceived you: it is indeed the scent of sugarcane juice<\/strong> that this rum exhales.<\/p>\n

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Southeast Asia is a huge producer of sugar cane, led by Thailand, so it was only natural that rum made from the fermentation of cane juice should be produced there.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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But a crucial step was still missing: the contribution of knowledge and know-how<\/strong>. In most cases, it was local Frenchmen<\/strong> who embarked on the adventure.<\/p>\n

All the ingredients were in place for the production of top-quality white rums<\/strong>. You’ll most often find these Southeast Asian rums white.<\/strong> This is due to several factors:<\/p>\n