Rum Style

Two styles share the north of Mauritius, and both are tied to sugar. The first is molasses rum in the Grays style, the second is cane juice rum from houses like Domaine de Labourdonnais. Both are rum, yet worlds apart in the glass.

Column-distilled molasses rum is light, round and soft. Caramel, vanilla and dried fruit stand in the foreground, joined by wood from the barrel, which brings spice and a light bitterness. It's sweeter on the nose than on the palate, and usually free of sharp edges.

Cane juice rum, by contrast, brings freshness, grass and a peppery note. Because juice can't be stored, it's distilled during harvest season and processed immediately by the distiller. The cane must come fresh from nearby for this. How cane juice rum continues in the south of the island can be read about in the Chamarel region.

Then there's a third type that often ends up on the shelf: spiced rum. It has rum as its base, but in the EU it can't be called rum — it must be labeled a spirit. On the label, it's recognizable by additions such as "Spiced."

The differences can be checked quickly. Molasses rum smells of wood and sweetness, cane juice rum of grass and fruit, and spiced rum of vanilla and cinnamon. Those wanting to compare should start with the young cane juice rum and move on to the aged molasses rum afterward, since doing it the other way around lets the wood's power mask the finer notes.