Get ready to rumble - rum returns as a firm favourite

With spirit drinkers becoming more educated rum is becoming a firm favourite again. Ben McFarland investigates by sampling a 'tot' or two

There are few spirits with a more colourful or murkier history than that of rum. Rum's origins, dating back to the 16th century when it was nothing more than a raw and uncouth spirit, were heavily intertwined with the brutal triangular slave trade.

Black slaves taken from West Africa were transported in ships to the Caribbean islands where they were sold for molasses - the thick, treacle-like residue extracted from crushed sugar cane and used to make rum.

These same ships, laden with molasses, were taken to the North American colonies and exchanged or sold to convert into rum before completing the third leg of the triangle and arriving in Europe.

In the 17th century, the popularity of rum increased this side of the Atlantic and in 1677, the British government decided to issue all Navy ratings with a daily rum ration. Having decided against beer, which became stale too quickly, and brandy, which was French and you couldn't possibly have the British Navy drinking anything from France, the Admiralty issued a generous, yet hopelessly impractical, ration of half-a-pint of neat strong rum a day!

By 1740, not best pleased with tales of sozzled sailors, the ration was wisely supplemented with water and continued to be moderated until the 20th century when it was a far more sensible eighth-of-a-pint "tot".

It wasn't until August 1, 1970 that the "tot" was discontinued - thereafter a day known in the Royal Navy as "black tot day".

Thirty years on, the dark rums associated with Britain's nautical heyday, such as Captain Morgan and Lamb's Navy Rum, have fallen foul of UK spirits drinking trends. Nowhere has the shift from dark to white spirits been more apparent than in a rum market characterised by contrasting fortunes for rum brands.

Dark rums, in decline and regarded as old-fashioned and outdated, are being surpassed by consumer demand for golden and "sipping" rums that are blazing a trail in the style-bar sector and growing their market share, albeit from a modest base.

The last two or three years have seen an increase in demand for golden rums, aged rums and the more premium brands which have benefited from those global travellers who, not content with "finding themselves" and knitting rugs on top of mountains, return home with delightful drinking tales of rum-producing regions in the Caribbean and Latin America.

In the spring of 1999, Bacardi launched Bacardi eight-year-old, to compete with the likes of Jamaica's Appleton's VX, Havana Club's seven-year-old and Anejo and Mount Gay Extra Old from Barbados, and capitalise on the fastest growing sector of the rum market.

Marie Carter, Bacardi-Martini's senior trade marketing manager, said: "Spirit drinkers are becoming increasingly educated and demanding and are not as price conscious as they used to be."

However, it is only recently that these premium rums have established themselves in the style bar sector so it will be some time before they start to challenge white rum in the mainstream pub market.

The majority of rum sales remains in white rum, in particular Bacardi which is the clear market leader and, according to the Publican's Market Report, stocked in 89 per cent of pubs.

Bacardi recently embarked on a £12m "Latin Quarter" marketing campaign in an attempt to usurp vodka from its position as the preferred choice in the youth-driven white spirit sector.

After a series of Caribbean-style TV advertising campaigns featuring scantily-clad pretty young things lounging on sun-kissed beaches, Bacardi has changed tack and recruited football hardman-cum-actor Vinnie Jones to front a new TV campaign, aimed at appealing to young hedonistic 18 to 25-year-old drinkers who have defected to trendy vodka brands.

Marie added: "It's all about giving the brand credibility among young consumers. The aim is to replace vodka as the default choice in the white spirit market by highlighting the brand's mixability and highlighting the importance of the perfect serve."

Despite this investment, it would be wrong to regard Bacardi as a champion of the generic rum market in the eyes of the consumers who see Bacardi, and coconut rum Malibu for that matter, in categories of their own.

Although Bacardi sits head and shoulders above its rum rivals, in recent years it has seen something of a challenge from Havana Club, which taps into the insatiable consumer appetite for all things Cuban by stressing in its marketing that, unlike Bacardi, it is still made in Cuba.

Havana Club has no doubt benefited from the ongoing legal dispute with Bacardi as among young and trendy rum drinkers it is considered "cooler" to choose the renegade underdog brand ahead of the powerful American market leader. Purists would also argue that it has more of a genuine rum taste than the lighter Bacardi Blanca.

Backed by French drinks giant Pernod Ricard, Havana Club has gained an impressive following in London and the South-East and is looking to make substantial gains further north.

If the white rum brands succeed in exploiting an increasingly vodka-fatigued white spirit market, and fledgling drinkers of Bacardi Breezer move on to other rum products, then rum's future could be a lot less tumultuous than its past.

Different styles of rums​

Tony Hart, of the Wine and Spirits Education trust, explains the different styles of rum present in the market.

• White rums:​ Usually light-bodied rums aged between one and three years and used mainly as a base for mixer drinks or cocktails.
• Golden or amber rums:​ Medium-bodied rums that usually benefit from slightly longer maturation periods during which they gain extra colour. This natural colour, however, may be enhanced by the addition of caramel. Often sweeter than white rums.
• Dark (navy) rums: ​Heavy-bodied rums that use caramel for their colour and flavour, rarely aged for more than a year or two.
• Aged or premium rums:​ Although there is no particular statutory requirement for qualifying as "aged" or "premium", seven years is recognised as a fair starting point. Principally gold in colour, these rums can hold their own with cognac and malt whisky as a sipping drink. Any age statement on the bottle must refer to the youngest rum in the blend.
• Flavoured and spiced rums: ​ A number of flavoured and spiced rums fill a niche in the market such as Morgan's Spiced and Bacardi's new lemon-flavoured brand.

The WSET course, run in association with Taste and Flavour, is designed to improve knowledge of spirits within the trade.​