A data geek's paradise

Rum is a wild child. There are no control. No rules. There's gems out there, in amongst the sweetened , coloured, flavoured gloup. You've just got to know how to find them. In this nobel hunt, data is your only friend.

Some distillers, like the new Taiwanese distillery Renaissance (pictured below) give you the data freely and without a fight. Others take a lot more work...

Here's just a few of things that will cross a rum hunter's mind when trying to get under the skin of a new dram:

• Where & when was this distilled?

• Was it made from fresh cane juice or molasses?

• Which variety of cane?

• Is it a blend of rums from different distilleries?

• How long was the fermentation?

• Did they add dunder?

• Wild or local or commercial yeast?

• A pot still or a column still? Or a blend of both?

• Was it barrel aged? For how long?

• In the tropics or continentally?

• What was the barrel previously used before? And before that?

• How much did the bottler water down the abv?

• Chill filtered?

• Single barrel or a blend of barrels?

• Was sugar, colour or flavour added before bottling?

Data, data, data.

Finally, and most importantly, does it smell & taste good? 😁