Barrel-Aged Rums, The Next Big Thing?

Unlike most other liquor categories, rum has never really produced a blockbuster super-premium or luxury brand. But could fine aged rums from Panama — a country not previously well-known as a producer of sugar cane-based spirits — be the first to break the cheap-rum barrier?

Varela Hermanos' Ron Abuelo brand is betting on breaking out with three aged rums, unusual for a category better known for cohabiting with Coke and keeping Caribbean cruise vessels afloat in Piña Coladas. In addition to its basic anejo or aged rum (about $15), Ron Abuelo is now producing a seven-year-old ($25), a 12-year-old ($35), and a super-aged 30-year-old marque called Centuria ($130) which will shortly reach American shores on an inbound vessel from the country's famous canal.

Aged spirits are not unusual for scotch or cognac, where evaporation from long aging in wooden barrels or casks — called the angels' share — is low, only about two percent annually in cool Scotland. In the Caribbean, the angels are much more greedy, taking up to eight to 10 percent annually in pirate-like fashion. For that reason, rums are usually not aged in wood at all (light rums) or just for a year or so (dark rums), typically in bourbon barrels.

"In the past five years, we have gone from making 5,000 cases of rum to 100,000," says Luis Varela. His family established a sugar mill in the small town of Pese, about a four hour drive southwest of Panama City, in 1908 and started producing rum in 1936. Much of their production went to other companies such as Bacardi, whose operations in Panama they purchased in 1996, and to make Seco Herrerano, a neutral spirit from cane juice that has been called Panama's national drink.

Tasting the aged rums at Varela's Pese operations is a revelation in what long barrel-aging — the company has 15 warehouses loaded with casks — can do for rum. The seven-year-old Ron Abuelo has already begun developing the rancio style of fat pungency for which fine cognacs are known. (And, as in cognac distilleries, the outsides of the Pese warehouse have dark molds that feed on what sweetness the angels leave behind.) The 12-year-old Abuelo is spicier and has developed a light caramel and nutty quality, while the Centuria has confined intensity with more rancio, salt flavors, and lots of minerals that linger on the palate. 

Norman Bonchick, CEO of Van Gogh Imports, Ron Abuelo's American importer, wants to make aged rums as successful as the flavored vodkas category he was instrumental in developing. "I think aged rums will be the next big category because the same people who enjoy all the different ranges of scotches and bourbons will appreciate aged rums," Bonchick says. "For them, it will be less of an acquired taste." While some other rum producers have an aged rum or two for variety, no on has committed to it with the same intensity and marketing savvy as Ron Abuelo. "We will be in 32 U.S. markets by the end of the year with all the rums," Bonchick says.

Although there is no law against mixing aged rums into cocktails, the Varela family members usually order it on the rocks when they see it behind the bar in Panama City, where it is almost always present. Still, it is just as enticing sipped neat once one leaves the heat of the tropics.

Although you may have to share it with the angels, sharing a fine aged rum with Coke might make the angels cry.