As I wandered the aisles of the Chicago Independent Spirits Expo a couple weeks ago, I came across something unusual: two rums from North Shore Distillery, both aged between four and six years. Rum is still relatively rare among local distillers, who tend to focus on vodka, gin, and whiskey instead; if they branch out from there it’s likely to be into liqueur or brandy. CH Distillery makes an unaged rum, and Tailwinds Distilling Company in Plainfield has built its brand on Taildragger, a lineup that includes a white rum, an amber rum aged for at least two years, a coffee rum, and an overproof dark rum. But that’s pretty much it for rum made in Illinois, and there certainly aren’t any others that have been aged for six years. Most local distilleries weren’t even around when that rum went into barrels.
Which may explain why most rum has sugar added: people tend to like it that way. “One universal truth is, people like sugar,” Kassebaum says. “If you put sugar in, people are going to like it better.” Sugar can cover up flaws, masking off flavors that come, for example, from a fermentation that’s too short. But it can also accentuate flavor, Kassebaum says. “We make a Tahitian vanilla vodka, and if we don’t put a little sugar in, your brain can’t process the vanilla flavor. You don’t taste how complex the vanilla is if we don’t put in sugar to keep it on your palate long enough for your brain to catch up.”
