The golden age

While traditional white and dark rums have struggled in recent years in a depressed spirits market, golden rum is a great success story. The trend makes it clear that the prevalent image of rum is one with a bit of class. Dark rum's associations with older drinkers and seafaring are no longer firing the imagination. White rum's prevelance as a neutral base spirit alongside vodkas is subsiding.

A report by J Wray & Nephew, owners of Appleton V/X golden rum, said earlier this year that: "the future holds a continued move away from simple white spirits and that golden and flavoured rums are waiting in the wings to move into this void." It pointed to "vodka fatigue", the white spirits category becoming overcrowded and a "taste evolution", with consumers' demand for more challenging flavours.

We are admittedly talking about small volumes in golden rum, compared to white and dark (see tables). But the fact that it has significantly out-performed its older brother and sister points the way forward.

Brand owners told The Publican their views on the reasons behind the boom, and the future for white and dark rums.

Morgan's SpicedBy far and away the leading rum in the gold sector is Morgan's Spiced. According to AC Nielsen, the Diageo-owned brand has an 82 per cent volume share of the on trade. Amy Richardson, Morgan's Spiced brand manager, attributes this success to golden rum's superiority over relatively neutral white rums.

The growth of cocktail culture, spreading into even the most traditional of pubs, has been a tremendous help to rum. "Mojitos and rum

cocktails have gone hand in hand with the recent popularity of cocktails," Amy says.

She also points to the importance of marketing investment. Diageo launched a £1m marketing campaign for Morgan's Spiced in late October. The 'Out of the Ordinary' campaign - featuring events sponsorship across England and Wales, sampling promotions and point of sale material - will have further boosted the brand's profile.

However, she points out that dark rum is far from dead - understandable, given Diageo's Captain Morgan sits at the top of the pile in that sector. "In comparison to golden rum brands, the age profile of the average consumer is older, but no less valuable," she says.

Appleton

"Consumer preference has changed in the past five years. People used to drink white spirits, say with cranberry, because they couldn't taste the spirit," says James Robinson, Appleton brand manager. "Now they are trading up into better brands, and there are not that many products at that end of the market in white rum. It's simple: if you age white rum, it becomes golden."

Explaining the "taste evolution" outlined in J Wray & Nephew's Rum Report, he says: "People are getting into dark spirits because of taste, saying 'I am paying considerable money for something I can't taste. Nothing exciting is happening in vodka, compared to rum'." He also believes that customers may be inadvertently ordering golden rum in cocktails, a sector that is booming. "People can order rum without knowing it when they choose a Mojito or a Mai Thai," he suggests.

Havana Club

Such is the favour for golden rum that rumours have abounded that Havana Club is to switch its focus to golden rum from white - rumours confirmed by Roger Harrison, Havana Club head of marketing.

"White rum is a great spirit to be used in certain cocktails such as Mojitos and Daiquiris, and we will continue to offer it," he says. "Golden rum, however, offers more versatility and a more appealing and unique taste. More than 60 per cent of our sales are now for Anejo Especial, our golden rum. Therefore, our advertising will use Havana Club Anejo Especial as the flagship."

He believes that golden's growth is tied in with the growth seen in other "youth" dark spirits - those such as whisky, which are developing from a small base. "The reason these categories are growing is because they offer a more challenging taste in their complement with Coke - the soft drink's sweet taste tends to be masked by the challenging taste of a strong spirit, offering a unique flavour."

Bacardi

While Carta Blanca white rum is Bacardi's mainstay, Bacardi Oro is also one of the foremost brands in golden rum. For Fraser McGuire, Bacardi senior trade manager, Oro is crucial to the rum giant that obliterates competition in the white rum sector. He describes white as a "fantastic entry level rum" and golden as "a spirit for different occasions".

He says: "There is a huge trend in the UK about consumers becoming more savvy with alcohol brands. People are starting to see themselves as connoisseurs."

Fraser labels Bacardi "rum ambassadors as well as Bacardi ambassadors". If this claim is true, Bacardi's August advertising campaign 'You in?' should have helped to entice consumers into the category. The £8m burst of promotions consisted of TV, cinema and billboard advertising.

Inspirit

The UK distributor of Bundaberg and Metusalem sees the boost in golden rum's profile as entirely down to the large brands switching their cross hairs to the more premium spirit.

Mike Beavan, Inspirit brands national account manager, says: "Dark is in decline because the majority of the work by rum companies recently has been done with golden."

However, he singles out Gosling Black Label, the base of the Dark and Stormy cocktail, as proof that dark rum "still has a place".

Mount Gay

Victoria Bowstead, UK brand manager for Mount Gay, sounds a note of caution over the encouraging trends in golden rum.

"The success of golden will become more apparent a few years down the line, when the market gets bigger," Victoria explains. "It's a watch this space situation at the moment."

Nevertheless, she is not surprised by Havana Club's stance of prioritising the marketing of the more premium rum. "White is a mature market and golden is a trend we are likely to see more and more," she says. "There are a lot of high quality white rums, but the taste that golden offers will

certainly entice a lot of customers."

First Drinks

First Drinks, whose brands include golden rum Sailor Jerry and dark rums OVD and Wood's 100, believes there is stark differentiation between the customer bases of dark and golden rums. In many ways, dark has a stronger customer base than golden rum, which is attracting more transient customers, in its view.

Geraldine Roache, First Drinks senior brand manager, says: "Many people, especially older guys, are fiercely loyal to the dark rum category. If they drink rum, they drink dark rum, and there's no point trying to get them into a vodka, for example.

"I would suggest the people moving into golden are moving from other spirits, rather than white or dark rum."