Cask & climate

Freshly distilled rum is colorless and often harsh; it only becomes rounded once it rests in wood, usually oak. The cask lends color as well as vanilla and spice notes, and lets a little oxygen reach the rum through its pores. Used casks are common, ones that previously held bourbon, sherry, or Cognac.

According to the company, Destilerías Arehucas ages its rum at altitude, where it's cooler and oxygen is scarcer. This slows the aging process, giving the aromas more time to come together.

Warmth speeds up aging, and with it more rum evaporates from the cask, the so-called Angel's Share. The Canary Islands lie in the Atlantic, and temperatures there stay milder year-round than in the Caribbean. A rum aged there therefore matures more gently than one aged in the tropics.

A clear rule applies to age statements in the EU: the youngest component in the blend is what counts. If the label reads "ten years," no younger rum may be included. In Spanish, you'll also come across trade terms like Añejo or Reserva, but they aren't uniformly regulated; an Añejo can mean different things depending on the producer. The solera method, borrowed from sherry production, works differently: it involves transferring liquid in stages from cask to cask, and the number on such bottles usually refers to the oldest component, not the youngest.

Ronmiel de Canarias doesn't age in casks at all. After blending, it rests in tanks until bottling. Its color, which the specification says ranges from golden yellow to deep mahogany, therefore has nothing to do with cask aging. A Canary Islands honey rum tastes of honey and rum, not of vanilla and oak.