Ten years ago, you’d have been hard-pressed to find more than a single expression of rhum agricole blanc on store shelves, even in major cities. Today that number is often upwards of five. Though hardly a boom, it’s a significant shift for a spirit that remains shrouded in mystery for many Americans.
Though it is a sugar cane spirit like any rum, rhum agricole is considered, as its name suggests, an agricultural rather than industrial product, distilled from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice, as opposed to fermented molasses. Though it can be produced anywhere that sugar cane grows, agricole rhums made on the French Caribbean islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Marie-Galante—the focus of our recent tasting—are protected by an appellation d’origine contrôlée and other geographical indication regulations, separating the category from clairin or any other sugar cane juice distillate. (Rhum with an “h” is simply the French spelling of rum.) “Because these are regulated, they do have terroir,” explains rum expert Paul McGee, of the requirements that dictate the use of on-island cane, specific varieties and a single distillation, to name just a few factors that impact the flavor of the spirit.
Unlike molasses-derived rum, which can ferment for up to several weeks, rhum agricole blanc typically goes from living sugar cane stalk to finished product within a matter of days, creating what some experts believe to be a purer expression of the raw material. In its unaged expressions, rhum agricole is often described as “grassy” and “vegetal,” not unlike the green notes commonly found in blanco tequila and mezcal. “It’s the mezcal of rum,” declared Shannon Mustipher, author of Tiki, at our recent tasting of 10 rhum agricoles, noting the similarities between the spirits’ shared ability to capture terroir.
Indeed, mezcal’s rising star is no doubt a factor in the dovetailing popularity of rhum agricole, a spirit that likewise shines in unaged expressions. But confusion still exists stateside over how best to enjoy rhum agricole. Many expressions landing on U.S. shelves are bottled at 40 percent ABV—a number that matches many other popular “white” rums. But whereas those molasses rums are built for mixing, agricole rhum shines neat (or in the simple ur-cocktail the Ti’ Punch) where the higher proof can allow the complexity of the spirit to shine through. It also more closely resembles the way it would be enjoyed on its native islands: no lower than 50 percent ABV, and rarely aged. For this reason, the judges at our recent tasting (myself, Mustipher, McGee, Nightmoves bar director Orlando Franklin McCray and Punch editor-in-chief Talia Baiocchi) gravitated toward the higher-proof bottlings as exemplary of the spirit’s often wild and idiosyncratic flavor profile.
Here, our five favorite rhum agricole blancs for under $50.