CigarsLover Magazine I 2023

file, but many critics are skeptical about the true extent
of such a “ready-made” practice when compared to the
long and difficult magic of traditional cask aging.
Indeed, when correctly performed, cask aging is a natural
process that can save more than a surprise to cellar
masters and curious drinkers. Each cask can react differently
depending on the position in the warehouse and
on the climatic atmosphere, and cellar masters must carefully
monitor the evolution of every single cask to spot
the best ones for the most exclusive single cask bottlings.
In terms of bottling, the major development in taste
over the past few years has been the interest sparkled
by brut de fût (cask strength), unfiltered, and uncolored
bottling. The evolution towards a more aware consumption
of artisanal products has led to considering those
rums that are not reduced in alcohol proof by dilution, do
not undergo any kind of intensive carbon filtering, and offer
their natural post-aging color without added caramel
or preservatives as being the best. In fact, these are not
so much quality traits, rather they indicate a more radical
approach to taste: a cask strength unfiltered and uncolored
rum will offer an original profile, for better or worse.
Its taste and aromas will certainly be less smooth and
cruder, with rough edges and funky notes, but the idea is
indeed to offer that kind of authentic experience to aficionados.
In general only the best selection of rums are
offered cask strength and that’s why we can most often
trust that we will be drinking something very interesting.
The rum market is growing fast and wide, with more
and more high-level bottlings for all tastes and interests
(and prices). Traditional blended smooth rums will
certainly never fade out of the market, but the shrewder
drinkers can now find exceptional bottles that can give
a very good idea of what it means to consider rum as an
artisanal product whose character is firmly grounded in
a specific territory and depends on a wealth of traditions
and knowledge, such as cask ageing.
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