RUM, REMIXED
SUSTAINABLE RUM Go Green
More and more brands are working to minimize their environmental impact, support ethical labour practices and promote sustainable farming, production and packaging practices. Flor de Caña, for example, is certified as both carbon- neutral and fair trade. They generate all their energy using biomass from bagasse (sugar cane fibre left over after milling), capture the carbon dioxide produced during fermentation to carbonate their beverages and use 100 percent renewable packaging. Bacardí is a founding member of Bonsucro, a global non-profit that promotes sustainable sugar cane production and processing. One of Bonsucro’s priorities is regenerative agriculture, including improving soil health and encouraging biodiversity. Bacardí takes pride in sourcing their sugar cane sustainably. They’re also creating biogas from wastewater, recapturing heat produced during distillation, and working to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and water use, and they have committed to making 100 percent of their packaging recyclable, reusable or biodegradable by 2030.
RAISE THE BAR
Premium aged rum to sip neat or switch up a classic cocktail. Bumbu The Original Rum $58.99 Barbados 281451
Fair trade, single- estate rum aged for 18 years. Flor de Caña 18-Year-Old Rum $69.99 Nicaragua 773549
FEEL- GOOD POURS
PREMIUM RUM Owning the Top Shelf
Like any spirit confident enough to describe itself as premium, rums can be as special and top shelf as many luxury whiskies and high-end distilled spirits. These are rums crafted by skilled master distillers with the highest-quality raw ingredients and aged for many years. Premium rums offer complex notes and flavours that are full-bodied and smooth, perfect for the sophisticated and the curious. Flor de Caña is a single- estate rum naturally aged for 18 years at the base of a volcano in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels. The intense heat speeds up the aging process and draws deep flavours from the cask. Bumbu combines the best sugar cane from several islands with spices and botanicals, all hand-blended and then aged for up to 15 years in ex-bourbon barrels. Premium rums are terroir driven, and many distillers are crafting rums with single cask origins. They are also experimenting with different types of casks to shift the flavour profile. After aging rums in American white oak formerly used for bourbon, distillers sometimes finish those rums in casks that once held cognac, port or wine. Aged rums are deserving of a tulip glass or small snifter when enjoyed neat. Bartenders are also serving premium rum in spirit-forward cocktails that would usually call for bourbon, such as Old-Fashioneds and Manhattans, and they are bringing back the retro chic of the classic Daiquiri.
Bacardí Superior White Rum $24.99 Puerto Rico 117
Leading the way on sustainably sourced sugar cane.
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