The Sweet Rum Nonsense Of Diplomatico & Friends

It’s a long weekend here in Canada, as Monday is Victoria day. A good time for a quick update about the sugar list. Turns out though that there is more writing inspiration in my tank than I thought, so this story is everything but quick. As usual, I'm zooming in on a couple of new entries to the list with a bit of commentary.

The Plantation name might have been changed to Planteray, what hasn’t changed is their love for sugar. Planteray’s 20th Anniversary XO comes in at 18g/L and their 3 stars white at 10g/L. Why the heck would you add sugar to a cocktail rum? In comparison, Chairman’s Reserve white has been measured at 0g/L.

A couple of other “famous” sugar addicts are Zacapa 23 at 15g/L and of course Diplomatico. Their Reserva Exclusiva, Single Vintage and Ambassador are favourites of many people. The cheap Reserva Exclusiva used to be a sugar bomb with 35g/L of the sweet white crystals added to it. Since the EU introduced a rule that states rum can “only” contain a maximum of 20g/L of sugar before it needs to be labeled as a spirit drink, they have lowered it to 18. Diplomatico Ambassador and Single Vintage are supposed to be high end. You can tell by the fancy bottle, the fancy stopper, the darkness of the liquid, the high price……and the sweetness of course.  The difference between the two is that the Ambassador’s stopper and label are gold (more expensive), while the Single Vintage is silver (less expensive)…..I think. Ambassador sells for around 250 euro. That’s quite a bit of money. Puts it in the same price bracket as a 19 year old Kill Devil Hampden 2001 59.6%, Foursquare Magisterium 16 year 58%, El Dorado Versailles 2002 63%, Ron Santiago de Cuba 20 year 40%, Holmes Cay Guyana Uitvlugt 2003 18 year 51%, El Dorado 2005 Versailles Sweet Madeira Finish 16 year 55.9%, Kill Devil Uitvlugt 1997 24 year 50.2%, Tamosi Trinidad 2000 22 year 57%. Actually, these are all cheaper than Diplomatico Ambassador!

I know what you are going to say:”But Ivar, these are all very different styles of rum”. True! However, if we are looking for clear indicators of value, then these age statements and high abvs are providing that. Besides, if you buy one of those El Dorado wine cask finishes and add some sugar syrup and perhaps a little bit of sherry to it, I bet you’ll arrive in the Ambassador’s realm.

Some retailers mention Ambassador is aged for 12 years in ex-bourbon, then blended before being aged for two years in ex-PX sherry barrels. Bottled at a whopping 47%, which is very low for cask strength. Thing is, there is no age statement on the bottle, nor on the Diplomatico website. Ageing is expensive and is one of the main factual reasons why a rum would be expensive. However, in this case it’s a no age statement rum. It can be two years old, five years old, or not aged at all. Why are people paying this much money for it then?! Well, because we buy and often taste with our eyes.

That reminds me…..I’ll never forget the days the Reserva Exclusiva had a little additional sticker on the label that stated “12 years”. At some point the sticker vanished. Same rum, same price, just not 12 years anymore. Lol, some of the shenanigans these producers get away with. No respect for consumers. Anyhow, let’s get back to Diplomatico Ambassador.

I had a look at the Rum Ratings website. In their description of this rum it states:”The rum has a high strength and does not contain any sweeteners, caramel or other additives which means it does not require chill filtration.” This is complete nonsense of course. It’s incredible how much misinformation a platform like this provides. Here’s an excerpt from one of the consumer reviews:

"Diplomático Ambassador Selection comes in a high class bottle and a high class package. Very classy. You smell sweetness, fruit and chocolate. This rum is 47% proof but you don´t sense that in the smell or in the taste. The taste is mild with sweetness, vanilla and a hint of spice and sherry. You don´t sense any alcohol. It´s very well balanced and smooth."

Notice how this review is mostly about two things. The nice looking bottle and the sweetness. Only thing missing is a remark about the colour. I distill from his comments that he’s pleasantly surprised there is no alcohol burn at 47%. What he might not realize is that this is likely not because of expensive ageing, but through the addition of cheap sugar syrup (or sweet sherry). Sugar changes the mouthfeel, rounds the spirit, tames it. It also takes flavours away with it. It acts like a blanket that creates a one dimensional experience. Not exactly what you’d expect at this price point.

Single vintage 2008 at least has the year of distillation on the bottle. It’s still not an age statement, but it’s something. No info about it on the Diplomatico website unfortunately. They are still stuck at the 2007 version. So, I checked some retailer websites. Again, they are all talking about this rum being 12 years old, even though there is no age statement on the bottle, as far as I can see. Some say it’s been aged in bourbon and sherry cask, some say bourbon and whisky barrels, another states bourbon, single malt whisky and new American oak. Sounds like reliable info! On the label it states it’s finished in sherry casks. It’s half the price of the Ambassador. No idea why. Let's compare. Neither has an age statement, with a lot of retailers stating they are 12 year old rums for some reason. It seems they have been aged and finished in the same cask types. 2008 is 43% abv, Ambassador 47%, a minimal difference. One has 16g/L of added sugar (2008), the other 19g/L. Perhaps Ambassador has a bit more sherry added to it than 2008. The only rational thought about the higher price that I can think of is that it helps to create an illusion of quality and exclusivity. It makes a buyer feel good that they can acquire something this expensive, while many of their neighbours can not. It’s exclusive and limited! It’s got a pretty bottle, a gold label, dark and sweet liquid and a high price! This can only be good! Even when it isn’t, we shall still say it is! 

Let’s change countries from Venezuela to the Dominican Republic and have a look at Oliver & Oliver’s Ron Quorhum Solera XO QRM. They figured, the more letters we put on the label that nobody understands, the better. Let’s have a guess. Quality Rum Molasses? Quality Risk Management? Quick Rum Manufacturing? That last one would likely be the best description of what Oliver & Oliver does. They are of course the letters of the word Quorhum of which I have no clue what it means. This one has 30g/L of added sugar, so it can’t be sold as rum in the EU. Despite this, RumX calls it:”a quality sip for both newcomers and aficionados”. Naturally, this is complete nonsense. Scrolling down to the details of the rum, RumX categorizes it as a “rum based spirit”. They also do this with Don Papa and Dos Maderas for example. Naturally, aficionados won’t touch this stuff and newcomers shouldn’t touch it either. But they do! Fancy bottle, very dark liquid and tons of artificial sweetness on the palate will do the trick.

I always wonder what would happen if you put this in a blind tasting. No more fancy bottle. I bet it would score lower. As it is, it gets an 8 out of 10 rating on RumX, despite it not being called rum. On the Rum Ratings site it “only” gets 7.6 out of 10. There are comments like:”A very tasty and good rum. It does not matter that the taste is a little short. One of the favorites. Wow, such a rum for that money”. I guess this means the finish is very short. Doesn’t matter, still great! “Sweet with wonderful aromas with pretty much everything!”. “This is sweeter than those with more pronounced caramel, cola flavour. But still not a dessert, i like it a lot”. “This one's so sweet you feel a layer of sugar on your teeth after one glass. All other taste notes falls in its shade.”

That last comment hits the nail on the head. This amount of sweetness completely dominates the profile. If there was any complexity to this product to begin with, it’s now been drowned by sweetness. Where is the rum flavour? Is there any? Would people categorize this as rum in a blind tasting with several different spirits? It’s very likely that the majority wouldn’t. So why call this rum? I like rum and cokes. This Quorhum is a similar type of drink. I don’t call rum and cokes “rum”.

One more comment from Rum Ratings:”This one has pretty much everything from fudge to dark chocolate, It's an XO so it's aged, and very well. It doesn't have that special thing that Plantation 20 has, it's darker, it's more but nothing really stands out. The reason I give it a 9/10 is that you can serve this instead of a sweet liqueur and it still also goes very well on it's own when you sip it. And yeah, the bottle rocks, perhaps my favorite bottle design.”

Let’s go through a few of these statements:

1.       “It’s an XO, so it’s aged.” Not necessarily. These are simply two letters of the alphabet that Oliver & Oliver chose to put on the label as marketing. This company has no moral issues with selling fairy tales. Nobody knows how old this liquid is and what it’s made of. It could not be aged at all. Coloured, flavoured alcohol in a fancy looking bottle has a much higher profit margin than a properly aged rum at the same price. My vote goes into the direction of unaged or super young.

2.       “It doesn't have that special thing that Plantation 20 has”, I’m not sure what special thing Plantation 20 has. Perhaps that it tastes like a liquid Bounty chocolate bar?

3.       “it's darker”. This somehow always seems to make things better for a lot of people who have never heard of caramel colouring.

4.       “it's more but nothing really stands out.” I’m confused! Is this a version of the saying “less is more”???

5.       “you can serve this instead of a sweet liqueur”. Oh yes you can, because that’s basically what it is. I know, technically this is not a liqueur at this sugar level. But when your palate has adjusted to rum without sugar and you drink something like Quorhum, you do get a liqueur sensation.

6.       “the bottle rocks, perhaps my favorite bottle design”. Right, the fancy bottle trick…..it always works.

I’m commenting on this particular opinion not to make fun of the person (hence why I left out a name), but to point out what I said before. This entire “review” is about three things: the fancy bottle, the darkness of the liquid and the sweetness of the liquid. It’s a tried and tested recipe for sales. One that keeps fooling people, overpaying for something that’s cheaply made, which doesn’t taste like rum….and might actually not be rum.      

On another level, in multiple ways, is El Paseo Del Ron Xperimento. The experiment was likely titled:”How much sugar can we add to rum before someone gets a seizure”. 52g/L was the number apparently. This product hails from, surprise surprise, the Dominican Republic. It’s not all bad with this one though. When looking at their Instagram post about this release they mention things like “sweeter flavour profile” and “an enhanced sweetness that gives a delightful contrast that adds depth to every sip”. Of course it doesn’t add depth at all, it does the opposite. However, if someone reads that, they will have a pretty good idea what to expect. Even better is that it clearly states on the label “round & sweet” and “round & sweet spirit drink”. Kudos for not being completely deceiving.

If you’ve gotten this far and haven’t yelled “sugar cop, sugar Nazi, rum Taliban or rum snob” at the screen yet, you must be a relaxed and open minded person. There is absolutely nothing wrong with drinking sugary rum if that's what you like. I've been there. Just don't let it keep you away from exploring non sugared options. Take your time, there is so much to discover. I promise you a fascinating world of rum variety and complexity will open up to you when you remove the blanket of sweeteners.

Let me finish by answering two common questions:

1.       Why are you telling people what they should be drinking? I’m not. I’m informing people, the ones who are willing to listen (I’m not a Jehovah's witness after all), what they are buying. I’m annoyed at misleading producers, not at fellow rum consumers. You can drink what you want. Makes no difference to me. Whatever makes you happy.

2.       Why are you stopping people from enjoying what they like? Such a weird question this one. Almost as silly as “drink what you like, like what you drink”. This usually boils down to people’s expectations when they post a (closed) bottle pic on social media. After buying an expensive and exclusive Diplomatico Ambassador, one can not imagine the thought that someone will respond with anything but cheers and admiration. When an obviously very rude person still dares to mention some facts that aren’t on the label, which could make the pedigree and price of said rum look a little silly, the online world is too small! Keyboard warriors unite! “Rum snob”, “you must be fun at parties”, “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything”. If it makes you feel better, one thing you don’t need to worry about is that I will go to your favourite liquor store and physically attempt to stop you from buying what you like. That’s too much trouble for me, so go ahead and enjoy.

As always, click here for the list, or use the "sugar list" link at the top of the page.