The rum it is a distillate with a very characteristic aromatic profile and a particularly long history. It is no coincidence that, in fact, it is present in many traditional cocktail recipes still known and consumed today. To find out more about this product, we had a chat with one of the leading Italian experts on the topic. It's about Jimmy Bertazzoli, owner of Aguardiente in Marina di Ravenna (RA), a place on the Romagna coast that can boast a collection of around 2,200 sugar cane-based spirits. The selection, so wide, has increased year by year starting from 2017, thanks to the three trips a year that Jimmy makes starting from 2014-15 to the Caribbean countries, where the distillate is widely produced.
To celebrate the rum, recommended the four best traditional cocktails to taste, plus one of his signature ones, which he currently serves at the restaurant.
WHAT IS RUM
The rum it is the spirit obtained from the fermentation and distillation of the must obtained from the processing of sugar cane. In the case in which the starting point is molasses we speak of traditional rum, in the case in which the starting product is the juice we speak, although not exclusively, of agricultural rums and of cachaça. THE rums also differ in terms of ageing. Unaged rums are products with a fresher and greener aromatic profile, especially agricultural ones, but sometimes they have acetic characteristics, as in the case of traditional Jamaican light rums. THE rum aged, however, they rest in wooden barrels, to acquire evolved taste profiles based on tertiary aromas not originally present in the distillate. In the contemporary world, there are also products that have the appearance of unaged rums and an aromatic profile similar to that of slightly aged rums. This is the case of many modern white rums produced in the Latin world, with 'forced' aging, faster than the traditional one, and subsequent clarification with carbons. There is one last way to distinguish rums. If until the early 2000s the origin was synonymous with the production style, today this is no longer the case, because the production style of a distillery does not necessarily represent the characteristic one of the state in which it is located. It is therefore more correct to classify the products according to the more contemporary Gargano-Seale classification, which has the objective of determining the types of rum based on the technical-production characteristics of the liquid, the raw material, the type of distillation and other parameters.
HOW TO DEFINE A QUALITY RUM
There are many elements that can characterize a rum: the colour, the aromas, the taste and finally the history. For Jimmy Bertazzoli, “a quality rum is the story of the raw material from which it comes - sugar cane - and also of the supply chain in which it is the protagonist: from agriculture to fermentation and from distillation to a coherent, unadulterated aging process. The rum” and he reiterates it several times “it must have something to tell: a more or less marked aromatic and gustatory depth and complexity, but still present and authentic. A product that returns a flat sweetness to the palate obviously cannot have much to tell, whether it is young or aged. As a distillate purist, what I look for is not just a qualitative aspect but an aspect of authenticity, an element which, unfortunately, industrialization tends to make disappear very often.
RUM IN COCKTAILS
In traditional South American and Caribbean mixing, rum is always the protagonist in its unaged version. The reason? “The aged rum” Jimmy tells us “It only spread at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, for export, with important shares, linked for the first time to the world of mixing. Previously, all rum produced was immediately marketed or traded or used in popular drinks and, as a result, all South American and Caribbean classics involve the use of this type of rum.”
“With the advent of tiki era, there was probably the debut of aged rums in blending. The tiki style is brilliant, because it is the first to have taken rum with its territorial characteristics into consideration. Previously, there was no reference to the type of rum."
The tiki era also takes agricultural rums into consideration, considered “one of the most beautiful expressions of rum and, still today, the maximum representation of the terroir and the starting product of this distillate: sugar cane and its juice, in all monovarietal expressions”. The same agricultural rum enters the recipes of popular drinks in French overseas countries, such as Martinique and Guadeloupe. Some examples? The traditional Ti' Punch, made with a high-grade rum from 50 to 59° and drunk at room temperature, or Le Planteur, in which “the rum is paired with tropical fruit juices, including guava”.
THE 5 COCKTAILS TO CELEBRATE RUM
Before going into the specifics of the cocktails he indicated to celebrate rum, it is important to point out how, despite being born in different areas, “all these classic drinks have the same backbone: the rum, a sweet part, often given by sugar or honey, and an acidic part, given by lime or citrus fruits". Each drink is the expression of the popular way of drinking a national alcoholic beverage: in the case of Daiquiris, for example let's talk about Ron Ligero Cuban. The idea behind these drinks is always very simple: the use of sweet and acidic elements serves to confer "a different texture and structure to the distillate, transforming it into a drink. As well as softening it and reducing its alcohol content." In recipes, it is not enough to simply use lime when indicated. Or at least, not in all of them. If in Daiquiris the presence of lime is sufficient since the traditional Cuban rum it has a light aromatic component, which balances perfectly with the acidity of the juice, the cachaça (Brazilian sugar cane distillate), when mixed, also needs the essential oils of the lime present in the zest, because without it it would prevail on the fruit (without a harmonious balance), with its very important aromatic profile.
1.Daiquiri
It is an iconic Caribbean cocktail. Esteemed by the well-known writer Ernest Hemingway, can boast a very complex and fascinating story, well told and documented in the book Cuban Cocktails by Anistatia Miller & Jared Brown, as well as that of other classic cocktails on this list. According to IBA recipe, which has included it among the international cocktails since the first edition of the list, dating back to 1961, is prepared with Cuban light rum, fresh lime juice and superfine sugar. “The difficulty in preparing a good Daiquiris” – says Jimmy – “lies in finding a light Cuban rum, which has a certain aromaticity. Today, in Cuba, there are no longer any distilleries that produce rum that has an aromatic profile, even if light. This type of production has been abandoned in favor of an important evolution towards systems that are increasingly performing but increasingly standardized from a taste point of view, which give a product that is increasingly similar to neutral ethyl alcohol". Precisely for this reason, in his restaurant Jimmy Bertazzoli he created his own blend of rums (not necessarily Cuban), which he called Cuban Aguardiente Classified Recipe. “I use it in all classic cocktails where light Cuban rum is called for. The recipe is the only secret of Aguardiente, but I can tell you that the Cuban rums I use have an aromatic profile, which is a reproduction of the rums of the pre-Fidel Castro era.” Having such an ancient history, over time the cocktail has also been the subject of famous twists. One above all is the Hemingway Special, in which there is a greater quantity of rum, Maraschino, replacing sugar and grapefruit juice.
2.Mojito
It is a classic of Cuban mixing spread at the beginning of the 20th century, and is prepared with Cuban light rum, fresh lime juice, mint, white cane sugar and soda. Among all the cocktails on the list, it is the only one in which there is mint, which gives freshness to the drink. The most accepted legend regarding this cocktail has it that its birth, although in a different form than the one we know today, is to be attributed to the English corsair Sir Francis Drake and the 16th century. The recipe of the time - called draquecito - involved the use of aguardiente, lime - widely used at the time to combat scurvy, due to its rich vitamin C content - water, white cane sugar and a local wild mint, the hierba buena, which is characterized by being very aromatic and pungent. Jimmy states that in this recipe, according to some historical sources, rum from cane juice and not from molasses is most likely used. This detail would see the Cuban version currently known only as an evolution of the drink.
3.Cuba Libre
It is the first cocktail on this list resulting from American influence in Cuba. Born in the mid-20th century (unlike the name, which was already pronounced at the beginning of the century), it is the emblem of how two such different products symbolize their country – rum and cola – can combine and find a perfect balance in the same drink. If the identity of the inventor is not certain, what we know about this drink is that it is a real homage to Cuban fighters (Cuban freedom fighters), which together with the United States gained independence from Spain (Cuba Libre actually means "free Cuba"). The fighters consumed a drink composed of aguardiente and honey, which already took the name of Cuba Libre in American print media. Structurally, the cocktail is a derivative of Cancháncharto, as well as the Daiquiri (Jimmy in fact defines the Cuba Libre “an American Canchánchara”). American cola, already sold at the time in millions of bottles all over the world, had just been imported into Cuba and, in this situation, was used to give the sweet part to the drink, replacing sugar. As the third and final ingredient, in addition to the Cuban aguardiente (rum), lime cannot be missing from the recipe known today, which gives freshness, acidity and an aromatic part to the drink and balances the other elements. The addition of lime was key in making the Cuba Libre a real drink.
4.The President
It's a Cuban drink, born as a tribute to Mario Garcia Menocal, president of Cuba in office from 1913 to 1921. This is the second Cuban cocktail in history that includes vermouth, after the Caballito, a mojito with the addition of vermouth. This detail is fundamental in underlining how the recipe has more of an American signature than a Cuban one, which was then changed in 1927, when Menocal was succeeded by Gerardo Machado. On the occasion of this change in power, a dry vermouth, white rum and grenadine, curaçao was added.
5.Mai-Tai #3
The only one signature cocktails on this list bear the signature of Jimmy Bertazzolie it is served in the current menu of Aguardiente, his rum-centric spot a Marina of Ravenna, on the Adriatic coast. The #3 indicates that this is Aguardiente's third twist on classic on this cocktail, whose classic recipe is more recent than those of the other drinks on the list. Born in 1944 thanks to Trader Vic, the innovator of tiki mixing (to whom we also owe the invention of tiki mugs), it is prepared with Jamaican rum. Since at the time the spirit used by Trader was Wray & Nephew aged 17 years, Jimmy chose to use the same brand of rum, which however is currently only on the market in the clear version. Accordingly, he 'blended' it with an aged rum, the Worthy Park 2007 WPL Habitation Velier, made from molasses through a rather long fermentation, like traditional Jamaican rums, and aging in tropical climates. The peculiarity of Mai-Tai #3 is that Jimmy has taken up in a personal key also another very characteristic ingredient of this cocktail, the orgeat syrup, here replaced by a Noto almond cream from the famous pastry chef of Caffè Sicilia, also from Noto (SR), Corrado Assenza. To complete the recipe, there are orange curaçao and lime.
