An Uncommon Guide to Uncommon White Rums

Words and Photos by Steve Bennett/Uncommon Caribbean

It’s a big weekend for rum. Today through Sunday, enthusiasts from around the world will converge on Miami for the annual Miami Rum Renaissance Festival. To get into the spirit (in more ways than one!), we reached out to our good friend and rum enthusiast Steve Bennett of Uncommon Caribbean for an uncommon look at that most under-appreciated category of rums: whites. As these sippable, small-batch varieties attest, “whites” aren’t just for old men and mixing anymore.

Once relegated strictly to mixing, white rums have acquired an added sophistication in recent years, a few ascending to sipping status. Small-batch artisanal whites have led the charge in this area, with some hailing from some rather uncommon areas for rum production…

Read on here.

Owney’s Original New York City White Rum

Proudly made in Brooklyn using genuine New York City tap water, Owney’s entices with vanilla and floral scents toning down the harsh alcohol aroma typical of most white rums. The flavor is even better, with the brand’s signature organic molasses really shinning through along with more vanilla. All you really need is an ice cube or two to enjoy this one.

Envy Diamond Class Rum

Citrusy, with nice notes of lemongrass and spice, Envy is aptly named as it no doubt solicits such emotions from more than a few competing white rums. A product of Mexico, Envy finishes pretty smooth too. Not quite the sipper it purports to be (at least not to me), it absolutely shines in a mojito, the dynamic flavors adding a great new dimension.

Caliche Aged White Rum

An elegant, vintage-style bottle makes you take notice of Caliche, but it’s her distinctive flavor that makes her unforgettable. This white rum registers a notch or two above the rest for me primarily because it’s aged. White rums generally aren’t, of course, their time not spent maturing in a barrel explaining their crystal-clear color. Caliche, on the other hand, is actually comprised of a blend of four different aged rums. There’s three, four, and five year-old rums in this triumph, plus a small amount of Solera-aged rum to add what Caliche calls “a particular character aroma and depth.” No argument here, though what really stands out about this product of Puerto Rico is its smoothness and crisp, clean flavor, a product of its quintuple distillation and charcoal filtration to remove color. The result, a truly pleasant, easy-drinking white rum with nice hints of oak and vanilla. I like Caliche on the rocks with lemon or lime, and it also makes a mean mojito, more robust than the traditional version made with Havana Club Tres Años.