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When people become genuinely interested in rum, enough to become full-on rum geeks–often through the vector of tiki cocktails–they have a tendency to feel a need to stand up for rum’s credibility as a spirit. I think this is due to the baseline level of disrespect that rum is still often subject to, thanks to the fact that a large percentage of the American drinking public still see rum as a sophomoric beverage best left to their college rum ‘n coke days. Where a segment like tequila has managed to reform its image on a wider level through successful premiumization, ditching the fratty associations that noxious mixto once evoked, rum has progressed more slowly in that direction. Those who love rum understand that sugar cane spirits are the widest and most eclectic/diversely flavored of all the major families in the liquor world, but this knowledge also comes with a tendency toward a certain type of gatekeeping. In short, some neophyte rum geeks often go out of their way to denigrate certain niches of the rum world because they’re trying to preserve the sanctity of other, more premium products, and the most likely target of this misplaced criticism can often be bottles labeled as “dark” or “black rum.”
What do we mean, when we say “dark rum” or “black rum”? The simplest answer is to say that an actual definition is very difficult to quantify, because these terms have no federal definition in the United States market. The truth is that you could put any sugar cane spirit on the shelf–be it distilled from molasses or cane juice–and call it “dark rum.” You could even call it that if it was unaged and completely clear, without any trace of color! It wouldn’t make any sense for you to that, but you legally could. The reality is that the majority of the products appearing on shelves with titles like dark rum or black rum have some degree of artificial (caramel) coloring, which is where the majority of their color comes from. The very same substance that makes your cola dark is also responsible for most “dark rum.”
Now, when someone who is just getting passionate about the rum world comes to understand this information, they have a tendency to react with distaste toward these rums, perhaps because they assume this is what is expected of them as a hobbyist who is attempting to become an “expert.” They assume that these dark rums are primarily meant to mislead the drinking public, to trick them into thinking that they have advanced age statements, and they thus feel a need to warn drinkers about being bamboozled by them. And although there is an element of truth to this–there have certainly been some companies that implied their dark rums had more age than they really did–this kind of criticism misses the fact that these rums also have plenty of legitimate purpose/use in the cocktail scene in particular. They’ve been part of cocktail culture and tiki culture for decades, and they play an aesthetic role in making drinks both taste and look the way we want them to. Education is necessary, to make sure people understand what these rums are, but the category itself isn’t inherently problematic. They’re not a problem, in other words–they’re another tool in the cocktail maker’s arsenal.
The World of Dark/Black Rum
If you haven’t already made the assumption, the terms “dark rum” and “black rum” are more or less interchangeable in this context–some companies prefer to use one term, and some will use another, although by and large the ones labeled as “black” are perhaps unsurprisingly on the darker side. You might say that the rums labeled as “black” are less concerned about someone being able to deduce the presence of the caramel coloring, and are instead fully leaning into it.
Beyond that, it’s important to understand that dark and black rum don’t constitute a coherent “style” by any means–they’re simply a description of coloration. They may not even have any “darker” flavor profile, if the rum is unaged. You can have a dark rum from molasses, or fresh pressed cane juice. You can have one at 80 proof, or cask strength. You can have one from a column still, or a pot still. And you can have these colored rums from any of the countless countries and regions that produce rum.
Take the classic Gosling’s Black Seal Rum, a product of Bermuda that is a blend of lightly aged pot and column still distillate, which then is dramatically darkened via caramel coloring. Gosling’s Black Seal is a necessary component of their own (trademarked in the U.S.) dark ‘n’ stormy cocktail, where its coloration is considered an integral part of the drink because of how it affects the final coloration of what you receive in the glass. If the rum had no coloration, it wouldn’t register very dramatically when mixing with lightly colored ginger beer. But because it’s “black,” you end up with a more dramatic, aesthetically pleasing transformation of the mixer, both when it’s mixed or if you want to float the rum in layers.
Dark and black rums also have a prominent role in the history of tiki cocktails, where the aesthetics of presentation have so often been a major part of the experience. Many black rums in particular hail from Jamaica, via brands such as Coruba, Myers’s, or Hamilton Pot Still Jamaican Black Rum, and the bold and funky-fruity flavors of Jamaican rum form the backbone of a vast number of classic tiki cocktails. These are typically lightly aged but highly flavorful and funky Jamaican rums or blends, intended to add both punch and visual appeal to a drink. The same is also true of colored demerara rums from Guyana, from brands such as Lemon Hart, Denizen or Hamilton once again. Just a small amount of one of these rums (especially at 151 proof) are enough in a tiki cocktail recipe to amp up its flavor or color. Note: Some common uses of dark, colored rum fly somewhat in the face of classic tiki protocol, but have become commonplace over the years anyway. This includes adding a floater of dark rum on top of a Hawaiian-style version of the classic mai tai, which is probably the most widely served version of the drink today. It’s not the “original” mai tai, but for many drinkers that’s the definitive version, and you wouldn’t get the aesthetically pleasing layered effect without artificially colored rum.
At the end of the day, this is why the dark/black rum category in the United States continues to exist–they tend to combine value with a certain aesthetic appeal that bartenders understand how to utilize. A company like Hamilton, in fact, has for years sold both colored and uncolored versions of the same lightly aged Jamaican rum, purely to suit bartenders and mixologists who wanted one presentation or the other. From what I hear, the “black” version actually sells quite a bit more.
So with all that said, there’s no real reason why a burgeoning rum geek needs to look down on this particular subset of the rum industry. As long as the consumer understands what these bottles are, they serve their purpose just fine. They’re the backbone of some of the segment’s classic cocktails, and that’s not something that is going to change any time soon.
Jim Vorel is a Paste staff writer and resident beer and liquor geek. You can follow him on Twitter for more drink writing.