Bayou Spiced Rum, Made in Louisiana, Handcrafted, Pot-distilled and Gluten Free, 40 Percent ABV, 70 cl

Product Information

They pasteurize molasses to make sure it is as pure as possible before yeast is added. This yeast comes from a strain of wild yeast found on sugarcane and is grown in a lab. We then distill every batch by hand using copper pot stills and age it into 200-liter bourbon and sherry casks. The purest expression of the rum is the unaged Bayou White, which shows the real spirit character on which the aged expressions build complexity through the wood.

Sipped, Bayou Select Rum isn’t as impressive as the nose. Having said that it is not a disappointing experience. It is still more than decent for such a young blend. It’s drier though and has a lot more oak. The sweet chocolate notes are now more of a bitter burnt caramel or unsweetened cocoa. It is also slightly “odd”– in that it has a kind of sweet note to it which I can’t quite place. Again this may have something to do with using sugar in the distillation rather than purely molasses.

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Bayou Select Rum. Bayou are a rum brand that hail from Louisiana in the US of A. I have been aware of the brand for a number of years now. They have displayed their Select and Spiced Rum at the London Rumfest the past couple of years. The stand is always pretty busy and one year I struggled to get a taste of their rums as I couldn’t get near the stand. Bayou Rum also distills exclusively on copper pot stills, which is a key distinction. These stills produce a spirit referred to as “heavier” by distillers and spirits geeks, with more delicate congeners–flavor compounds, basically–left in the resulting spirit. It’s a less efficient, but more flavorful method that preserves more of the flavor of the Louisiana sugar cane. So with that said, let’s jump into tasting the core Bayou Rum lineup. All four weigh in at 40% ABV (80 proof). These single-batch rums are aged in rye whiskey barrels and red wine casks from Napa Valley. The brand has released three- and five-year-old expressions of the latter. At the top of the range is the Bayou XO Mardi Gras, which spends a year in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks after five years in Bourbon barrels. These Terms and Conditions supersede any and all prior agreements, promises, representations, assurances, statements and understandings whatsoever between you and SPI Group. It has a really nice balance – chocolate, oak, plump raisins, some banana cake and just enough of a herbal note and a touch of spice to make things more interesting. More complex and rewarding. It has interacted with the casks really well and has nose way beyond its relatively young years.

I am not sure if Bayou have a bigger producer behind them in some way. They do seem to have quite a reach for a such a young brand. They don’t seem short of a bob or two either. Lets see how the rum shapes up though. That’s the important thing. Mixed with Lemonade or tonic it is perhaps slightly less convincing but it does add a very distinctive flavour to your drinks. Louisiana is an ideal place to produce rum due to its abundant sugar production. Here, you can find all the ingredients needed, from the steamy, sultry climate made for maturing smooth rums to the abundance and quality of the raw material. Vicente’s passion and experience in rum came from an early age. He was just 15 when he began working alongside his father, a distiller and master blender in the Dominican Republic who had previously worked in Cuba. He nailed the science of rum making with a degree in chemical engineering, and impressed the founders of Bayou Rum with his rum-making know-how and expertise. He was taken on in 2013, soon after the distillery started. They use a “signature” ‘sugarhouse’ recipe which uses a blend of 100% natural, unrefined Louisiana sugarcane and molasses. Using actual Sugar to produce rum, technically means it cannot be classed as a rum in the EU. Quite how a mix of refined sugar and molasses is classified – I have no idea. Once again, I’m not going to worry to much about it. Bayou Select Rum is aged in ex-Bourbon Barrels. They claim there is no added sugar (which is probably true but the Hydrometer is showing something in there). This may be due to the way it is produced partly from sugar. Though this may be unlikely. I am not an expert on distillation. Nor do I make such claims.Bayou Select Rum is a fairly standard dark/golden brown colour with orange/reddish flashes. Coloured? Yes without doubt. The purest expression of the rum is the unaged Bayou White, which shows the real spirit character on which the aged expressions build complexity through the wood. Bayou Reserve uses a blend of barrels between two and five years old, which brings excellent smoothness to the spirit. Above this sit Bayou’s single-batch rums, which are treated to a particular type of barrel for their entire maturation. For going on a decade, this Lacassine, Louisiana company has been entirely focused on making the most flavorful rums they can, exclusively from sugar cane grown within the U.S. This is actually more rare than one might think, as the total sugar cane production in our country–much of it is not suited to grow cane at all–doesn’t even rank in the top 10 sugar-producing nations in the world. Consequently, we import massive amounts of sugar products each year.

At Bayou, everything is made in pot stills, one batch at a time, from locally sourced molasses. From the beginning, the brand has partnered with MA Patout & Son, the oldest family-owned and operated sugar mill in the USA. This sugar mill saves the batches of richer molasses with more fermentable sugar. Then, it sends them to the Bayou to develop their spirits. Not many people know Louisiana is the fifth-largest producer of sugarcane in the world. It means Louisiana grows more sugarcane than all the Caribbean islands put together,” says Bayou Rum’s master blender, Reiniel Vicente. We may disclose your personal information to any member of our group, which means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries.Bayou® Rum is one of the crafts distilled from locally grown, fresh Louisiana sugarcane. The Bayou® Rum Distillery opened its doors in Lacassine, LA. It uses traditional methods with state-of-the-art technology, from fermentation through distillation, maturation, and bottling. Nosing Bayou Select Rum is quite a surprise. Some of this rum is up to 3 years old but I suspect a lot will be much younger. Even if it were a 3 year old rum I wouldn’t expect a nose quite as rich and “aged” as this one. It has a really warming, sweet chocolate like theme running through it. Spicy yet comforting tones of oak from the ex-bourbon casks give it an extra layer of complexity. There is a slight briny/herbal note similar to Chairman’s Reserve – but a touch sweeter, with less vegetal notes. So, if the US has a rich history of distilling rum, the reasons are obvious to anyone in the Bayou of Louisiana. Here, you can find all the ingredients needed, from its steamy, sultry climate that is made for maturing smooth rums, to the abundance and quality of the raw material. While so much rum is produced in industrial column stills, everything at Bayou is made in pot stills one batch at a time from the best, locally sourced molasses. Vicente calls the quality of the Louisiana sugarcane “amazing”, and says: “From the beginning we’ve had a partnership with MA Patout & Son – the oldest operating sugar mill in the USA, who’ve been going since 1825. We work very closely with them. They save the batches of molasses that are richer, with more fermentable sugar, and send them to us.”