Transporting and storing rum - 2 experiments!

Oak barrels at Bielle distillery in Marie-Galante. Nothing to do with the article, just a great day at an awesome distillery

Experiment I - a great solution to posting and sharing samples

Prelude - Some years back, lady K suggested a genius solution to the problem of sharing and posting samples amongst the rum family.

• The problem - postage cost, fragility, and parcel size vs your letter box (ie: having to be in for deliveries!) of posting sample bottles.

• The solution - breast milk bags! Hygienic, water tight, robust, and they fit in a padded envelope for cheap postage & easy letter box delivery, Genius!

Photo: Spirits in boobie bags

This worked so well that I ended up with a backlog of milk bagged rum samples waiting to be tasted. A lovely problem to have but it got me wondering whether these bags were ok for longer term storage...

The experiment

On 9th December 2023 I chose two excellent, and very different, rums. I decanted 30ml of each into traditional sample bottles, and another 30ml into breast milk bags. These were stashed away in a cool dark cupboard, alongside the original bottles, awaiting a review after an extended period.

For no good reason, the review day turned out to be 25th September 2024. What would 291 days in a milk bag, and in a sample bottle, do when compared to what was left (un-gassed, un-filmed) in the bottle.

The rums - I chose the excellent Vinha Alta Balancal as my unaged cane juice option. And Foursquare Nobiliary as my aged molasses rum.

Tasting and conclusion ...

Vinha Alta Balancal

Sample Bottle - Bright, rich, grassy, zesty. Everything you want from a great Agricole. Taste is clean with plenty of zip. Fresh, citrus, saline with a touch of brine. Lovely stuff.

Milk Bag - Smelt a touch flatter, heavier and earthier than the other two. But not bad and not off-putting. Taste however was immediately wrong. The first sign was a gunky mouthfeel, like something bad was coating your mouth. This led onto a burnt plastic taste that kept getting worse. Acrid and revolting. One sip was enough - down the sink with you.

Original Bottle - 99% the same as the sample bottle. If anything the full bottle dram was a smidge brighter and more complex than the sample bottle dram, next to nothing in it though (as you would hope!)

Foursquare Nobiliary

Sample Bottle - It's been too long. Love this beast. Rich roasted spice, vanilla caramel and coconut on the nose. Perfect oak integration, a massive yet rounded taste. Spicy. Dark berry chocolate. Outstanding

Milk Bag - Smells great. Just how it should and almost identical to the sample. Taste is vile. As with the unaged rum, this experience started with a nasty sticky texture and led into a heavy menthol and acrid mess. Not as pronounced a difference as with the unaged sample, but still very wrong and a bad taste. Again I binned the rest of the glass - slightly concerned I might be poisoning myself!

Original Bottle - Yum yum. One of the top few Foursquare ECS. What a waste using this magnificent rum for the experiment! Again 99% the same as the sample bottle - in this case the sample had the edge, but I have just tasted the plastic muck so maybe that's why.

Conclusion - Boobie bags.... great for shipping, big mistake for storing!

Experiment II - a 2 year open bottle vs a freshly open bottle

This experiment was triggered by my January 2024 blind-review Foursquare sherry casks (Mystique vs Elysium vs Empery vs Sovereignty). A great tasting; some pleasant surprises and one shocking result with a significant drop in taste & score for Sovereignty (since originally reviewed 2 years ago). Over the last week I have set about proving whether this transformation is a change in the rum or a change in the human....

The hypothesis

The taste or smell of a spirit can change through oxygenation once opened. Clearly, change can be in either direction. Observations on the change in a bottle of Hampden, from a rum specialist whose taste I greatly respect, were that it improved significantly over 6 months of being open!

All I'm trying to prove today is whether there's any change, any difference at all, or whether the perceived change was solely down to a change in my tastes, my head, and/or the conditions at each tasting.

The combatants in this head-to-head

• The control - A newly opened bottle of Foursquare Sovereignty. (Thanks to a great member of the Rum Family for selflessly cracking a new bottle to enable this experiment)

• The test - My bottle of Foursquare Sovereignty. Opened 2 years ago. Never gassed or parafilmed. Uncorked and poured on average once per month. Now at 20% fill. Kept in the van for the last few months with associated jiggling around and temperature shifts,

Colour - same colour but I found the 2yr to be a touch less bright

Nose

2 weeks open - orange caramel oak. espresso. vanilla. big vibrant dried fruit, blackcurrant and pineapple. wax polish. cigarbox lining. beeswax. Awesome.

2 years open - a touch less rich, and maybe marginally less warmth. Also less alcohol burn (not that the 2 week was overly aggressive after 20 mins in glass). Creamier and nuttier. Less of the fresh punchy fruit and polish, more banana (banana caramel/toffee).

On the nose they're not a million miles apart, both very enjoyable with delightful sherry notes. The 2yr is just a touch flatter and more muted.

Mouth

2 weeks open - chewy caramel and currants. Salted bitter dark chocolate and spicy blackcurrant. Delicious. Peppery spice. Some sharp citrus. High cocoa dark chocolate. Espresso coffee. There's bitterness but balanced with fruit, caramel and fruit. [90-pts]

2 years open - Starts with cherry and caramel coffee. Tastes great initially but moves to being too bitter for me. The overall experience is quite different from the first. Just not as balanced. Sharpness, like grapefruit skin, appears mid taste and doesn't leave [87pts]

Reading back over my older tasting notes I seem to be much more aware of, and sensitive to, bitter notes.

Non scientific bonus content...

A further tasting of the freshly opened Sovereignty several weeks later was a slight step up again. Clearly this wasn't side by side vs the 2 week open, and could be the result of many other shifting variables, but my gut feel is that a month open could be the start of the sweet spot for this stunning rum.

Conclusion

I empirically conclude that spirits may change when left open for extended periods. I also subjectively proved that my tastes change!

The extent of these changes in the rum, and even whether they're positive or negative for the taste, will likely vary on - storing conditions, abv & style of rum, bottle seal, and personal preference!

I now need a bottle of 2-year open, gassed, para-filmed, and perfectly stored Sovereignty to see whether change in bottles can be substantially slowed/altered!

And don't keep you rum in breastmilk bags for too long!

Coming soon... Hampden HGML!