We like to believe that rum was made for the laidback souls to drink it the way they like it – bound by not many rules or regulations. However, some day if you fancy serving it the way rum connoisseurs do, let our Wise Monkeys be your guide to it.
Setting the glass
Glassware is important for two reasons.
1) Because you need to pour the drink into something, and drinking out of the bottle may not seem very connoisseur-like.
2) After having a few drinks, your mind would be at a lot more ease if you knocked over the glass instead of the entire bottle.
Apart from these obvious reasons that an experienced drinker would already know of, here’s why the glassware matters for sipping rum.
The journey of tasting rum starts with pouring your heart’s content into a glass, swirling it around gently in the palm of your hand, and savouring the aroma it releases.
The perfect fit for this would be a nice rocks glass that sits comfortably on your hands. It offers you the space to inhale and savour the rum’s aroma luxuriously.
If you’re really into analysing the rum, then you can also go for the Glencairn, Copita, or Neat glasses. These glasses are designed to focus on savouring the aroma before drinking it. This is one of the best ways to enjoy the drink, because it is said that about 95% of what you get flavour-wise comes from the aroma alone.
So, to truly understand what the rum encompasses, nosing is the key.
After this, take a sip of the drink and let it gently roll around your mouth before swallowing. Take your time savouring it, and then exhale. The best kinds of rum will give you an unforgettable taste as well as aftertaste that will linger on your palette.
Setting the temperature
Neat or on rocks?
The serving temperature has come in to question many times, and again it’s really all about preferences.
Rum does its charm without any kind of solvents, and in fact works the best when it’s taken neat. It comes along with a rich flavour profile that demands to be enjoyed the way it was crafted.
However, adding ice is a common practice and that’s A-okay too. Ice essentially dilutes the drink to make it a lot more smoother, but it also masks a good portion of the rum’s flavour in the process. So, unless you feel the drink is too overpowering and needs to be toned down a little, ice is well and good kept off the equation as well.
For diluting the drink without taking away much of its flavour, room temperature water works better. In the case of rum, the water actually adjusts the chemistry to release the flavours.
