Pineapple Rum was quite a popular delicacy in the 19th century. In fact, in Charles Dickens first serial novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (published in 19 monthly magazine instalments, from March 1836 to October 1837), Pineapple Rum is the preferred tipple of the fictitious Reverend Stiggins, who while publicly preaching temperance, secretly enjoys his pineapple rum, usually mixed with hot tea.
Alexander Gabriel (President and Owner, of Cognac Ferrand) in collaboration with Dave Wondrich (cocktail guru and author of Imbibe) researched the original recipes of Pineapple Rum, and then set about to re-create this lost libation.
The collaboration was an unmitigated success and their Stiggins’ Fancy Plantation Pineapple Rum has roared up my list to grab the honour of being the 3rd best Mixing Rum in my 2016 Countdown.
Here is a link to my recent review:
#3: Stiggins’ Fancy Plantation Pineapple Rum
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Stay tuned for more mixing rum revelations as I will be adding to this list each day until Christmas Eve.
And you can follow the rankings by bookmarking this page:
The Rum Howler 2016 Top 50 Mixing Rums Countdown
While the vast majority of the rum distillate produced at the distillery is destined for bulk sales (much of it to Diageo), about 10 % of the rum distilled is set down to rest in American Oak barrels and aged at the NJR facility at Innswood, an older distillery which now serves as an aging and blending facility for Claredon.
That is not the whole story, as my bottle clearly states (at the bottom of the label) that the particular bottle which I was given has been blended with Canadian rum as well. For those who do not know, it used to be fairly common for rums imported into Canada to be blended with a small amount (about 1.5 %) of Canadian Rum (usually produced at the Hiram Walker Distillery) in order to obtain a more favourable tax rate from the Canadian Government. I have been told that this small amount of Canadian Rum does not change the flavour profile, although the skeptic inside me forces me to mention the Canadian content just in case the Myer’s Planters’ Punch does taste slightly different in other markets.
In the case of the Flor de Caña 4 Extra Seco, this brand now replaced the Flor de Caña Extra Dry 4 Year Old Rum in their line-up. The new Extra Seco brand is now longer an age stated 4-year-old rum, rather I have been told that the number 4 on the label is representative of the average age of the rums in the blend with some variation in the actual age based upon blending to a consistent flavour profile.
Although the naval tradition of the daily tot had ended, in 1979 Charles Tobias obtained the rights and the blending information for the British Naval Rum, and formed Pusser’s Ltd. on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. His company produces their Pusser’s Rum following the blending information and the traditions of the Admiralty, including producing the rum from wooden pot stills just as the had been the tradition for over 200 years.
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