Tasting Rum
All Your Questions Answered


What You'll Find Inside:
Why You May Have Rum All Wrong

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A Guide to the Different Types of Rum

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Classifying Montanya Rums

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How Long Rum Lasts

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How to Taste Rum

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Montanya Tasting Notes

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DIY Tasting Notes Template

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Where to Find Cocktail Recipes

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Why You May Have
Rum All Wrong
If you’re looking for a guide to the types of
rum, you may be looking to understand how
white and dark rums are different or what sets
an aged rum apart. In truth, there's so much
more that separates one rum from another.

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First off, color doesn't tell you
much about a rum's flavor or age.
It would be nice to have such an easy
distinction between types of rum, light
versus dark doesn’t say much about how a
rum tastes or how it was made. It’s not even
safe to assume that white rums are un-aged
and all dark rums are aged.
Many people approach our founder and
owner Karen Hoskin at tasting events and
ask to try the aged rum—they see white and
dark rums and assume that Platino, our

white rum, isn't aged. In reality, it ages for
more than a year. We run it through a
coconut husk carbon filter to remove the
color contributed by barrel aging. (Unlike
most carbon filtration, we don't use bone
because it takes the flavor too.)
So while many white rums are un-aged or
rest only in a stainless steel vat, this is not
always the case. Likewise, color isn’t
necessarily an indication of aging.
Sometimes color comes from artificial
additives after distilling. It’s possible to
taste a dark rum that hasn’t been aged at all.

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You also have to be
careful about age
statements.
Another common misperception is that a rum claiming to be aged for
12 or 23 years is better than a rum aged for one. Unfortunately, you
can’t take all age statements at face value. It’s rare for 100% of the
rum in a bottle to be aged the same amount of time (although it is true
for Montanya rums).
One example is an aging technique called solera, where rum ages in a
barrel, and after a certain amount of time, a third of the rum is
removed and a younger rum added. That process is repeated over
time, so that some tiny amount of the rum in the barrel may be 20 or
25 years old and some not all. For many years, consumers didn’t

understand the solera method and took the age statements at face
value. While solera isn’t a bad process (some delicious rums, sherries
and balsamic vinegars are made this way), it’s impossible to make age
statements about it.
Age statements for blended, non-solera rums can also be misleading.
It's possible that a blended rum with an age statement of eight years
is only reporting the oldest or most voluminous rum in the blend, not
each rum included.
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One last
note on age
statements.
Remember that distillers aren't necessarily required to tell you
anything about the age of rum. The only legal definition of rum
according to the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Tobacco Trade
Bureau) is that it’s distilled from sugar cane and distilled to below 190
proof.
A spirit that is distilled to 190 proof or above is a vodka, even if it’s
made from sugar cane. (Vodka can in fact be made from anything, as
long as it’s distilled to 190 proof or higher.) Some countries require
their own age statements (like Puerto Rico) but they do not always
refer to oak aging.
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A Guide to Different
Types of Rum


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So if you can’t classify rum strictly by color or age
statement, what distinguishes different rums?
Karen uses a series of characteristics to evaluate rums. They serve as
a nice set of questions to ask when you’re looking to understand what
you might expect from a rum or what you tend to like:
What type of sugar cane is used to make the rum?
Where does the rum originate?
Is it pot distilled or column distilled?
Is the rum blended or single barrel?
Is it aged and if so, how?
What type of barrel was used for aging?
Are there additives?
What is the proof?
That might seem like a lot of information to gather, but it boils down
to a simple premise: know the maker.
In the following pages, we break down each characteristic:

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Sugar Cane:
This is probably the most
distinguishing characteristic of
rum and can vary widely from
one rum to another. Rum can be
made with raw sugar cane juice,
molasses, or a combination of

raw sugar cane and molasses, as
we do at Montanya.
A rum made with raw sugar cane juice that is pressed and fermented
right away is going to taste very different from a rum made with
100% molasses. Rums made with fresh sugar cane juice tend to be
described as grassy (sugar cane is a grass), and you can taste flavors
specific to the rum’s place of origin more clearly (terroir).
Molasses, on the other hand, is such a rich base ingredient that it will
likely dominate terroir. It also has a high sulfur content that carries
through the distillation process (sulfur content is high, for example, in
column distilled Caribbean rums made from 100% molasses).
In addition, some cane juices will be heated/boiled prior to
fermentation (such as, but not limited to, Guatemalan) while others
won’t (Agricoles and Clairins). These practices affect the flavor and
tend to vary by region, bringing us to the next characteristic.

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Origins:
Regional origins impact rum in a variety of ways, from the type of
sugar cane to the way it’s processed and even the type of still. Take
agricole rums—the sugar cane juice will never be heated prior to
fermentation. That’s very different from Guatemala, where rum
distillers are legally required to distill from sugar cane syrup, which
has been boiled.
Clairin rums, typically out of Haiti, provide another good example.
They’re made with sugar cane juice, but that juice is very different
from sugar cane juices used in the French West Indies. Clairin styles
will have a lot of variation because they typically ferment with wild

yeasts (yeast that exists naturally within the air) rather than a strain
deliberately introduced and controlled by the distiller. (Interestingly,
the sugar cane for most clairins is also not machine pressed like most,
but pressed by oxen circling the presses.)
It would take a whole separate post to outline the different regional
styles, but the main takeaway is that the type of still, type of sugar
cane, elevation at aging, humidity during aging and other regional
characteristics all influence a rum.

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Some of this happens naturally,
and some of it is regulated by
formal designations called AOC’s
(a French term, Appellatian
D’Origine Controlee) and GI’s
(Geographic Indications). As a
consumer, the best thing you can
do is get to know the regional
practices of the rums you enjoy.

Pot Distilled Vs.
Column Distilled
Pot distilled rums tend to have
more character in the distillate,
leading to a richer, more robust and
flavorful rum.
Column distilled rums tend to be
cleaner and lighter, with fewer

complicated congeners and esters
(chemical constituents that lend
flavors to wine and liquors).
Montanya takes the effects of pot
distilling one step further by
distilling over an open flame.
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Aging
When it comes to aging, we believe there’s no right or wrong—the
issue is transparency and price. We object to high priced rums that
masquerade as long-aged when they actually are not. For a long time,
few consumers understood what solera meant and therefore
misinterpreted the age statement. And as we've discussed, labeling
can also be complicated for blends. The rums used to create the final
product may be of different ages, and depending on requirements,
the age statement may be the youngest rum in the mix or the oldest.
By contrast, single barrel is what it says it is—100% of the rum is the
stated age, if an age statement is included (sometimes it is not). Yet
it’s also helpful to know that you can have double and triple
maturation, when rum is transferred from one barrel to another in its
entirety (as Montanya does with the Exclusiva, Valentia and limited
releases like Valentia). As a consumer, the best thing to remember is
to dig deeper than the label. Get to know the company and how it
makes its rums. Believe us, this research can be incredibly fun!
(On a separate note, it’s
also good to remember
that nobody completely
understands why aging

works. We understand
some of the science,
but not all. There’s a
mystery to it that we
love and would hate to
analyze so much that
we miss out on that
magic.)

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Blended vs. Single Barrel
Blends and Single Barrel rums are just what they sound they like, and
as a consumer it’s important to understand a couple of things. First,
blends tend to be easier to balance in order to create the desired
flavor profile but are harder to reproduce.
Most blenders are either trying to create consistency or make limited
releases that offer different characteristics. Appleton is a blended
rum designed to be consistent—Appleton 12 should always taste
similar. On the other hand, Foursquare Rum has released many very
different limited releases. When you’re buying a blended rum, it will
help to understand if it’s a brand that aims for consistency or always
offers something different.
When it comes to single barrel rums, the rum is at the whim of the
barrel and what the barrel previously held. As makers of single-barrel
rum, we choose our barrels carefully from partners we admire and to
create consistent, flavorful rum.

Type of Barrel

Most aged rums are aged in secondary casks that previously held
whiskey, bourbon, cognac, port or cabernet sauvignon, each of which
impacts the rum differently. Some distillers are now using fresh oak,
which would impart whiskey-like characteristics since whiskey is
always aged in a new cask.

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The degree of char in a barrel also affects flavor. Charring opens the
barrel’s pores so the spirit can move deeper into the wood.
A new barrel at sea
level in Rhode Island,
for example, with a
fresh char of 4 (on a
scale of 1 to 5) is
going to have almost
none of the sweet,
fruity characteristics
that can be imparted
by the oak because
the char is so fresh.
You’ll get a lot of oak
and char, and that will
overwhelm
more
subtle flavors like
vanilla,
sweetness,
pineapple or spice.


All Montanya rums begin aging in barrels that come
from Laws Whiskey House out of Denver, Colorado.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, when a company uses the same
barrel for decades—say for a solera—the barrel will contribute less and
less flavor over time.
Another factor is the use of French oak versus American oak. French
oak is affiliated with vinous qualities (like tannins) and flavors less
associated with rum and more with wine. An American oak barrel
recently impregnated with whiskey or bourbon will create finish notes
of bourbon, corn or grain that are associated with rum.

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Additives
Additives aren’t a new topic, but when it
comes to reading labels, the important
thing to remember is that in the United
States, up to 2% of any spirit can have
unreported ingredients. If a company
adds something like orange flavoring to
rum, the label is only required to call it out
if it accounts for more than 2% of the
ingredients. (This is especially important
for celiacs and people with allergies to
consider. Rum never contains gluten
when it comes off the stills, but additives
may.)

Some of the biggest “offenders” in terms
of unnamed ingredients are propylene
glycol and glycerine because they give
rum the fake mouth feel of an aged rum.
Anything you taste the moment the rum
goes into your mouth—like sweetness,
cinnamon, cranberry or orange—is likely
an additive.
Heavy additives will be noticeable on the
front and the finish, but generally
speaking, flavors that are natural to the
process of making rum will be picked up
on the finish. 
When Karen tastes rum, she expects the
best rums to be alcohol forward and then
layered with delicious flavors.

There are never any artificial additives
in Montanya rums, and we include as
much information as we can, including
the aging process and barrel number.
We believe consumers should know
what they're drinking.

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Proof
One final note is to pay attention
to the proof, or alcohol content,

of the rum you buy. Traditionally,
rums are 80 Proof, or 40%
alcohol by volume (ABV). There
are many high proof rums,
however, that are above 80
Proof. A lot of Jamaican, funky
rums are, for example, high proof
and high ester, meaning they are
very flavorful/complex/high in
congeners. Some rums are also
below 80 proof, or Low ABV. 
This is important to note,
because
if
you're
not
accustomed to a high proof rum
it can knock your socks off the
first time you try one. Likewise, if
you are accustomed to drinking
high proof rum, by comparison
80 Proof rum or something with
even less alcohol may seem
weak or like it's missing a punch.

Want a cheat sheet? We've
created one to break these
categories down.

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Classifying Montanya Rums
We’ve always believed that finding the rums you like is one part
experiment (tasting and determining what you like) and one part
getting to know the maker. And because you can only get to know
the maker if makers are transparent and honest about what they
make and how, we work hard to be up front and honest about our
rums. Here’s how to understand Montanya Rums:

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Sugar Cane
We make rum with every part of goodness that sugar
cane has to offer, apart from the fibers (bagasse) and
water. The fine folks at the Lula Sugar Mill in Louisiana,
where we get our sugar cane, run the stalk through a
press once to extract sugar cane juice. That juice is then
heated in a boiler and crystalized under vacuum pressure.
The crystalized juice gets put in a centrifuge to separate
the raw sugar cane from the molasses.
Both the sugar cane and the molasses then get packed in
reusable containers and shipped to Crested Butte,
Colorado, where we use it to make rum—about 88% raw
sugar cane and 12% unrefined molasses. In essence, the
process of separating the sugar cane from the molasses
arrests fermentation so we can ship it to the mountains.
Without doing so, the fresh sugar cane juice would start
to ferment naturally with wild yeast that exists in the air.


Origins
Montanya Rums are all American. Every ingredient in the
bottle originates in the USA: sugar cane from Louisiana,
mountain water from Colorado, and in some, the tiniest
touch of Colorado honey—not as a sweetener but
because the acidity brings out the flavors of the rum.
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Pot Distilled
Montanya Rum is 100% pot distilled, a
practice that tends to yield a richer, more
robust and flavorful spirit. We also distill
over a direct flame, which ramps up the
characteristics of pot distillation. The wash
inside the still caramelizes, producing even
more interesting and character-full flavor
profiles. It also keeps our distillers on their
toes because it can be harder to control the
temperature and therefore more artful to
separate out the rum we want to keep.

Single Barrel
Montanya Platino and Oro are both single-barrel rums aged for more
than one year. The Exclusiva is a double maturation, aged for a total
of three years, and Valentia is also a double maturation, aged for a
total of four years.

Types of Barrels

All of our rums start out in a Laws Whiskey barrel for one to four
years. The Exclusiva is finished in a Cabernet Sauvignon and Port
barrel, and Valentia is finished in a Rye barrel from Catoctin Creek.
We use only secondary casks because we appreciate their role in
creating the types of rum that we like to drink, and because of our
commitment to environmental sustainability by not using new oak.
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Aging
To many people’s surprise, all of Montanya
rums are aged—even Montanya Platino
white rum. You can find detailed
information about how we age our rums in
our product descriptions, our overview of
distilling and the transparency section of
our website. We also include clear aging
statements on our labels.

Additives
We do not add any artificial colorings, flavors or sugar sweeteners,
and we do not add “natural” flavors or colors either. We do add the
tiniest touch of caramelized Colorado honey to our some of our rums
at bottling—less than .04% percent of every bottle (an ingredient we
choose to disclose even though we are not required to do so, because
it is less than 2% of the bottle).
Many people confuse the addition of this honey with being a
sweetener or think that it makes our products “honey” rums. We have
traditionally added the honey because even at such minute amounts,
the acidity of the honey brings out the natural flavors of the rum

acquired during distillation and aging. It is part of what makes our
rums unique.

Proof
All Montanya rums are 80 Proof, or 40% alcohol by volume (ABV).
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How Long
Rum Lasts

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Storing Rum
We have good news for those of you
who wonder how long rum lasts.
Provided that nothing has happened to
spoil it, rum has a shelf life of forever.

The high alcohol content typically
creates an anti-bacterial environment,
and if rum is stored in the original glass
bottle with a clean natural cork or a
synthetic cork, it should last just fine.
There are caveats. A low ABV (alcohol by
volume) rum may have a low enough
quantity of alcohol or a high enough ratio
of added sugar or caramel that it can't
maintain an antibacterial environment. If

the sugar content is high enough and
oxygen is introduced to the environment,
a rum can potentially grow a bacteria
culture on its surface. This would be
more likely if the rum is left uncorked, or
corked and uncorked a lot.
It’s also possible for a natural cork to be
contaminated, which can affect the rum.
This is referred to as “cork taint” and it is
caused by a chemical compound known
as TCA (Trichloroanisole). We use Tapi
synthetic corks, so we don’t worry about
this kind of contamination.
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Lavender, jalapeño, basil and cucumber
are all infusion ingredients that should
be removed after a few days to prevent
them from spoling the flavor.

The other variable to consider is what’s been done to a rum after
opening. Many people put rum into a plastic quick-pour bottle, which
means the alcohol can act as a solvent on the plastic—particularly
when left for a long time or if the rum is high in alcohol content (ABV).
That creates a chemical presence of partly dissolved plastic in the
bottle that you may taste and may not want to drink.
Infusions left unchecked can also affect the quality of a rum. While
this isn’t necessarily going to cause the rum or the infusion
ingredients to rot, the rum might taste terrible. Take basil. If you leave

it in an infusion for more than four days, it tastes like you took a bite
out of green lawn grass. (Can you tell we’re speaking from
experience? 😆)
In general, we like to treat rum the way we treat anything we
consume: keep it away from plastic, keep it clean and free of TCA,
practice moderation and don’t let a good thing go to waste!

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How to Taste Rum

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Pour Mindfully
In the Tasting Room, we keep each
taste to a quarter ounce. That might
not sound like a lot, but it's enough to
get a good sense of the rum and it
helps customers moderate alcohol
consumption. The goal of a tasting is
to experience new flavor profiles,
which is best done with a clear head.

Enjoy at Room Temperature
Only high quality spirits remain
delicious at room temperature. If
you're offered a spirit that is highly
chilled, this is usually an attempt to

cover up impurities and flavor
characteristics that are not favorable.
Tasting at room temperature will allow
for an accurate impression.

Serve in Glass
We're on a mission to eliminate singleuse plastic from Montanya and our
lives, and glass gives the tasting
experience a more elevated feel. It
also makes it easier to truly taste the
rum—even 80-proof spirits act as a
solvent on plastic.

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