A spirit of the islands unbound

THE mojito pitcher goes back into the cupboard, and the punchbowl too. With the end of summer we say adieu to the tropical rum cocktail.

But not to rum.

Show it a little respect, and this noble spirit can match fine whiskeys for sipping pleasure no matter what the season. Also like whiskeys, good aged rum offers the adventure of discovering a mind-opening range of refinement, reflecting not just the secrets of individual distillers but also the geography of the New World itself.

Rum occupies a curious place in our liquor cabinets. In his 2003 book, “Rum,” author Dave Broom begins, “Rum is the forgotten spirit.” Yet the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. reports that rum outsells Scotch whiskey, Canadian whiskey, Bourbon, cordials and liqueurs, gin, brandy, tequila, and Irish whiskey -- everything, in fact, except vodka.

It seems that Americans have allowed a good deal of their rum to be put out of mind and swallowed up in mixed drinks and punches -- concoctions including the daiquiri, Hemingway’s choice at the Floridita in Havana; the mai tai, creation of Trader Vic’s founder Victor Bergeron; and of course the mojito, today’s ever-popular nightclub breath freshener.

Rums used in mixed drinks tend to be light-bodied, neutral-flavored or flavor-added. Typically, they are aged for a year or less and filtered clear. Some cocktail recipes call for the addition of more robust, darker rums, which are aged longer.

When carefully made and held in oak for many years, sometimes a decade or more, these dark rums are in a class by themselves -- blossoming into full-bodied, smooth, intensely complex spirits that are quite simply amazing in their variety.

Lately, America’s appreciation for better spirits has been catching up with rum. The growth rate in sales of super-premium long-aged rums has more than doubled in the last two years.

The finest of these estate and reserve rums, those from storied distillers like Barbancourt and Cruzan and others, are enjoyed on their own, poured at cellar temperature, the powerful vapors inhaled carefully and the silky liquid sipped straight in a small glass. Sipping rums are very deliberate as well as invitingly deliberative.

*

Sweet beginnings

PERHAPS this was what the poet Byron had in mind when he said “There’s naught, no doubt, so much the spirit calms as rum and true religion” -- not an observation you’d hear in conversation today, although rum fanciers understand the point without taking offense.

Rum, or rhum, or ron, is distilled from the byproduct of sugar cane, molasses or sometimes from cane juice itself. Because it is produced primarily in warm, tropical latitudes, some knowledgeable consumers believe it ages more rapidly -- so that a 10-year-old rum shows the maturity of, say, a whiskey that is years older.

A few rums are bottled, like wine, from a single year’s distillation, but most are blended to achieve a desired flavor and maintain consistency -- the age designation on the label is meant to signify the youngest rum in a bottling.

Taken from the cask, aged rum is pale amber in color. Darker hues are achieved by the addition of caramel, which also adds body and a touch of leveling to the blends.

Once categorized as an eau de vie, rum conveys the fiery, vaporous essence of sugar. From this common beginning, the various styles of the spirit branch out -- with some quite dry and others almost syrupy, some sharply assertive and others candy-like. Along with burnt-sugar flavors of caramel, tasters find hints of chocolate, coffee, pineapple, maple, butterscotch and even loam along with the background tastes of old oak and vanilla imparted from barrels.

In myth, memory and reality, rum holds an indelible, and entirely justifiable, association with the Caribbean islands. No place has so many distilleries producing so much rum; nowhere does the drink have a richer heritage or a more important place in the culture.

Remember this exchange between Johnny Depp’s swashbuckling Jack Sparrow and Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann in the film “Pirates of the Caribbean?”

Swann: That’s it, then? That’s the secret, grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow. You spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum.

Sparrow: Welcome to the Caribbean, luv.

Virtually every island, or group of islands, is home to an idiosyncratic rum style, with individual distillers producing their own expressions -- and usually in a variety of agings. Barely 50 miles long, Martinique has 14 distilleries, with six or more bottlings apiece.

Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Guyana, among others, are renowned for their distinctive rums. Jamaican rums, typified by Appleton Estate, tend toward the rich side, rounded and aromatic. Haitian distillers, notably Barbancourt, reflect the influence of French colonizers, with rums that have the sharpness, elegance and careful balance of brandy. Similar characteristics are apparent in Martinique rums, which often are available only in small batches. Cuban rums tend to be crisp and lighter bodied. The distillers of Guyana are famed for such heavy, old sipping rums as the fine, smoky Demerara El Dorado Special Reserve, aged 15 years.

But the islands do not hold a monopoly, a fact made increasingly apparent by the growing attention paid to rums from the sugar-cane regions of South and Central America. Mainland distillers tend to reflect the influence of Spain rather than France, with premium aged rums that are a degree or two mellower in many cases.

With a hint of spice and a deep body, Ron Zacapa Centenario from Guatemala tops more than one connoisseur’s list as among the best rums in the world, and Zaya Gran Reserva is a favorite of savvy bartenders who want to introduce customers to the magic of fine rum unencumbered by fruit mixers and little paper umbrellas. Longer-aged bottlings of Nicaragua’s subtle Flor de Cana are also highly regarded.

*

A growing selection

VENEZUELA’S Pampero Aniversario carries echoes of soft Spanish brandies. Tinged with an earthy aroma, it is a particular favorite of cigar aficionados. Santa Teresa 1796 is the result of a complex sherry-style aging process and the result is correspondingly multilayered.

Premium rums are relatively abundant, but retailers’ selections can be spotty and the availability of some brands intermittent. Beverage Warehouse in West Los Angeles and Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa both stock more than 100 rums. Wally’s Wine & Spirits in West Los Angeles and Morry’s of Naples in Long Beach also offer a well-considered variety.

On the other hand, restaurants, even those with proud selections of whiskeys, tend to place a lower priority on rum selections.

One standout exception is Norman’s in West Hollywood, where New World, Caribbean-inspired cuisine is matched by an offering of 18 or so top-shelf sipping rums. Among them is the explosive 30-year-old Cadenhead’s Cask Strength, a 147-proof Jamaican rum aged and bottled in Scotland, of all places. A 2-ounce pour of this rare but unexpectedly smooth drink costs $48.

“I think rum is not just for having a cocktail anymore,” sommelier Peter Birmingham says. “Those contemplative moments after dinner come to mind.”

Birmingham recommends sipping fine rum neat at a temperature in the range of 55 degrees. A brandy snifter is commonly used, though Birmingham favors a small thistle glass used for sipping Cognac or a tulip-shaped sherry glass -- the narrower chimney balancing the strong aromatics of aged rum with the sugary-pyrotechnics of the liquid itself. He “primes” his glass by swirling a touch of the spirit inside, and then utilizes both tongue and nostrils in the sipping.

For travelers determined to try it all, Hobson’s Choice Punch House in San Francisco pours 108 rums in the crimson-drapes atmosphere of a Victorian-era sitting room. Or you can go wild at Rumjungle, the tropical fantasy nightclub at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. There, 155 rums are served, with premium sipping varieties ranging from $11 a pour to $64 for the sugar-sweet Pyrat Cask 23, a Caribbean blend bottled in Anguilla.

Yes, a new season is upon us. It’s autumn, that lingering, in-between, contemplative time when daylight begins to fade and the year starts to wane, when the armchair and ottoman beckon, when the quietest stool at the bar looks evermore inviting. So here’s to rum, luv. As distillers in Guyana say, it’s been “lifting the spirits for 300 years.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

One big, rambunctious family

RUM is a sprawling, unruly family of spirits. Even if you winnow out spiced rums, flavored rums and light-bodied cocktail rums, leaving only aged sipping rums, you still have an ocean to sail and a mainland to cross just to sample the magic distillers can create from sugar cane.

The rums below represent a taste of the variety available. They were chosen to indicate a range of prices and ages as well as variations owing to geography and distilling methods.

Generally speaking, each of the islands and island groups of the Caribbean claims its own style of rum. Likewise, mainland rums tend to stand apart.

Rhum Barbancourt, Estate Reserve, aged 15 years. Haiti. The Barbancourt distillery was founded by a French immigrant 143 years ago and still follows the double distillation process used for Cognac: Pure cane juice is first put through a column still and then finished in a pot still. Golden amber in the glass, this is a sharp, assertive and refined rum -- a spirited and venerable ambassador for a troubled country. Comparatively dry, it makes a quick attack on the palate, with a hint of maple and candied fruit. This is not the most fragrant of rums, but it expresses the essence of tropical cane with invitingly complex, meditative aromas. Available at Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, (800) 331-3005; Morry’s of Naples in Long Beach (562) 433-0405; and Bristol Farms markets, about $32.

Zaya, Gran Reserva, 12-year-old. Guatemala. A limited production, estatebottled rum from the city of Zacapa, Zaya offers a contrast to its better-known Caribbean cousins. Instead of French influence, think Spanish brandy. Aromatic and sugary, this mahogany-colored rum inches toward being a liqueur, with a supple, caramel-like viscosity. Hints of orange peel against a layer of aged oak and sweet vanilla bring the rum into splendid evening-in-thearmchair balance. Available at Bristol Farms markets; Beverage Warehouse in West Los Angeles, (310) 821-2822; Beverages & More; and Wally’s in West Los Angeles, (888) 992-5597, about $32.

Appleton Estate V/X. Jamaica. Appleton Estate traces its rum-making heritage back 256 years. This well-known offering is a blend of rums between 5 and 10 years old. While no rum can be called typical, this bottling offers a middle ground between the more vivid and distinctive brandy-ish rums -- and is no less palatable for it. Tawny copper in color and silky in texture, it is pleasantly aromatic, full-bodied but not overwhelming. It finishes smooth with just enough hint of spice to bring tropical sunsets to mind. A bargain. Widely available, about $20.

Santa Teresa 1796, Ron Antiguo de Solera. Venezuela. Beginning with a “mother” rum, Santa Teresa 1796 is blended over the course of years with other rums of different ages in a cascading series of Limousin barrels. These are the same barrels used in Cognac production, and the finished rum exhibits Cognac’s oxidized, nutty background flavor known as rancio. Very dry and chestnut-colored, it passes over the tongue with remarkable complexity. The solera blending process is borrowed from sherry producers, and sure enough, the finish echoes sherry. Available at Morry’s; Beverage Warehouse; and Bristol Farms, about $36.

-- John Balzar