Rum Tasting

[The Sheriff]

When tasting rum should it be cut with a little water? Seems to me that sometimes the alcohol can over power my taste buds.

[angelsword]

If I really want understand a spirit my personal proceedure is: First nose, then neet, then with a splash of water, finally over ice. Each reveals different characteristics.

[Mr Fjeld]

I think it's alright to use a little water if the alcohol feels a little too strong. It might even help to open it up if the nose is a little subdued.
Personally I sometimes use a aprx. a teaspoon of water if I drink cask strength whisky of high proof.

Whatever you fancy is the right way for you. If you like to add water or ice then that's alright. Personally I prefer not to because I think ice subdues the taste but if you live in a hot climate it would perhaps be the only way to enjoy a strong spirit. I usually blend the spirit in the mouth with saliva anyway and it really works.

Cheers!
Christian

[The Sheriff]

If I really want understand a spirit my personal proceedure is: First nose, then neet, then with a splash of water, finally over ice. Each reveals different characteristics.

That sounds like a good strategy, maybe varying the sequence depending on what the nose reveals.

I recently attended a Cognac tasting and found the tasting procedures to be somewhat different than wine tasting, which I'm more used to.

Thanks for your insight,

John

[Edward Hamilton]

If I really want understand a spirit my personal proceedure is: First nose, then neet, then with a splash of water, finally over ice. Each reveals different characteristics.


When tasting rum should it be cut with a little water? Seems to me that sometimes the alcohol can over power my taste buds.

I recently attended a Cognac tasting and found the tasting procedures to be somewhat different than wine.
John

Rum is the most varied of all the distilled spirits and can have the widest variety of flavors.

Tasting rum, as opposed to drinking it, should be approached with an open mind, nose and mouth.

I like to start with a glass which will allow me to assess as many of the flavors in the spirit as possible. The glass should be straight-sided or wider at the top than at the bottom, you don't need or want to concentrate the aromas of rum, especially barrel proof rums, in the chimney of a glass. I like to use a glass which is about as wide as possible and about as high as it is wide.

After pouring enough rum in the glass to amply cover the bottom, I swirl the liquid to release the aromas then I let the glass sit a few seconds while I see how the liquid runs back down into the glass. Then I tilt the glass about 45° and gently smell the top or high side of the glass. Next I move my nose to the lower side of the glass and see the difference in aroma as I move acorss the open mouth of the glass.

I sip some water and repeat this process giving the spirit some time to breathe. After sipping some more room temperature water I'm ready to suck a few drops of the liquid through my lips into and over my tongue while mentally assessing how the initial taste, the body and finish are integrated. Does any flavor dominate the others? Does the body reflect the initial taste and does the finish flow evenly from the body are they disjointed segments of flavor?

I sip some more water and let the spirit sit a few minutes then repeat nosing the spirit before I assess it in my mouth a second time. It is amazing how some spirits change with time in the same way a good wine will improve as it breathes.

After I've assessed the spirit neat, I like to add a few drops of water and see how it changes. Too much water and most spirits taste flat but with just a little water, most good spirits improve. Our taste buds aren't really designed to assess spirits which contain more than 40% alcohol so a little water is generally a good idea though ice will tend to attenuate our senses.

[Mr Fjeld]

Very interesting, so I suppose a traditional tumbler is preferable to a copita shaped glass or a snifter?
With whisky as well as with cognac I would say that spirit at cask strenght doesn't nessecarily benefit from water so there's obviously differences between rum and whisky.
You wouldn't happen to have a picture of the type of glass you mention?
Looking forward to learning more :)

[Scottes]

Ed, that is great information. Thanks for posting the description of your process.

[Mr Fjeld]

About the tasting glasses - would this do?

http://www.barmans.co.uk/productimg/12248.jpg

[Hank Koestner]

Thanks for the discussion of the tasting glasses. I was using a open glass for normal consumption, but I was using a snifter for the heavier sipping rums, and using the snifter for tasting. I re-tasted some rums with the open glass, and it is better than using a snifter. I always start out tasting neat, then add a few drops of water, always giving a few minutes in between each taste.

[Guy stowell]

I was wondering how everybody tastes their rum when tasting a few at a time, do you spit it out, swallow a bit or just smell it. What do you think is the best way?

[Dood]

I think you'll find everyone has their own methodology.

What I do is taken largely wholesale from Scotte's methodology, as described on his blog. (http://scottesrum.com/how-i-review/) I've tried other approaches, but this is the one I find works best for me.

[Scottes]

The link Dood posted tells much about my plan when reviewing. But I think Guy might be asking about the exact process of tasting a rum - smelling and sipping and so on. I follow Ed Hamilton's methods described in this post: http://ministryofrum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10

I might do it the *exact* same way, and I often vary slightly, but that's my general process for tasting a new rum.

[Guy stowell]

The link Dood posted tells much about my plan when reviewing. But I think Guy might be asking about the exact process of tasting a rum - smelling and sipping and so on. I follow Ed Hamilton's methods described in this post: http://ministryofrum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10

I might do it the *exact* same way, and I often vary slightly, but that's my general process for tasting a new rum.

Cheers for those links, I found them both very interesting. I suppose what I really want to know though is can you really taste a rum properly with out actually swallowing the spirit, like how wine is often spat out at tastings. As much as i love getting drunk on rum, i can't do it every day, so what do you guys do when your doing tastings all the time? I also found it very interesting in Eds tasting bit where he said a tumbler glass was best for drinking rums, ive always thought snifters were the best glass for all sprits, i'll have to try using tumblers more often.

[Scottes]

I drink a lot of rum, and I manage to get drunk perhaps twice a year. When I do a review I will drink - fully swallow - 2 or 3 ounces of rum over the course of an hour. Barely enough to feel, really. Although I've never tried it, I would imagine that failing to swallow would miss much of the finish, something that I find very interesting and important in a tasting.

Another thing that I have been doing with some rums is covering the glass with an index card after the glass is emptied. I'll go back to it 30-60 minutes later, lift the card and smell some more. Sometimes it's amazing, like when I tasted the El Dorado 15-year-old. The aromas that came out were simply wonderful.

[jman8973]

Since I only have 2 shots of rum, I slam it and wait an hour. If I'm mixing it, I just drink a little at a time. I'm in my mid 30s, can't drink as much as I did back in college!

[Hank Koestner]

I use the same guidelines that Ed uses. That post straightened out my tasting technique. Before that I did not give the rum enough time to open up. I also add a little water a second time, then taste again.
I think you must swallow the rum, or you will loose part of the finish. Also,
it helps to show where the rum has its heat. in the mouth, throat, or that great warming sensation as it goes down.
It is important to have a full stomach, as you will absorb the alcohol more slowly, and use small amounts to taste.
If I am tasting more than one rum at a sitting, I use unsalted bland crackers and room temperature water to cleanse my palate in between rums.

[Edward Hamilton]

I like the shape of the above glass, but can't tell much about the dimension of the glass from that picture. My my mind the top of the glass should be something like the diameter of a 750ml spirit bottle - about 3 inches or 75mm.

The reason that I like to use a wide or flared glass is so that I can assess more of the flavors of the spirit. By holding the glass at 45° and moving your nose from the high side of the glass to the lower side you will discover the complexity of the spirit.
When using a snifter type glass the aromas are concentrated and more difficult to assess. I also like the feel of a larger glass in my hand and don't like to drink spirits from a glass with a high center of gravity, especially on my boat.

[Edward Hamilton]

Anyone who thinks they can taste rum after spitting it out is kidding themselves. If you're only looking to get the essence of a rum, spit it out. I appreciate that it can be very difficult to swallow a number of rum samples and then make your way home from a large tasting, but I've get to be able to get duplicable tasting notes when tasting a large number of rums. These events are good for understanding different styles of spirits but not the best for making serious tasting notes.

Only by swallowing the rum sample, can you can access the finish, aftertaste and after effects of the spirit. So I do my most serious tasting in a setting where I know I don't have to drive home. I also don't try to seriously assess a whole cabinet of rums at one sitting.

[Matusalem]

For me tastings are great for exposure. As I believe Ed and others have sort of hit upon, I can typically spot something of interest quickly, but as far as serious notes and exactly what I find intriguing, that's not usually the ideal setting. I typically try things I'm completely unfamiliar with or something I am looking to get an updated / more solid (current) opinion on.

Another thing about tastings (which also has been hinted upon), there typically is a time constraint as well as a general effort toward covering as much ground as possible in that constrained period of time. People do things like add copious amounts of water to quickly open up spirits and get an idea. Time is a great component of opening tightly wound spirits imho. Unfortunately, at tastings, time is usually the most limited resource on hand, except for maybe that 30 year old item their hiding under the table for the reallllly special guests.;)

If you are really sensitive, depending on size, ventilation etc., a room full of steadily opening and closing containers can also color ones perception imho.