Rum is a spirit with an incredible array of roasted and toasted Aromas because of the intense roasting and heating stages at the onset of the manufacturing process. The task of creating the inimitable aroma of roasting coffee beans as an Aroma Standard in our Rum Aroma Training Kit is one of the most demanding imaginable for an Aroma Scientist. In truth, the full rich magnificence of this arousing Aroma note cannot be replicated fully in a liquid, but after much research and development, we have got very close to it with our Coffee Aroma Standard.
The reasons for the difficulty lies in the extraordinary complex chemistry that takes place during roasting. Hundreds of Aroma molecules are generated in the roasting process and some of these are only stable for a short period in the air that wafts to your nose directly from the beans. The key unstable molecules are sulphur-containing entities and they decompose so quickly that they never appear in any extract from roasting coffee beans. By way of example, several Cuban Rums, heavily influenced by the barrel ageing, exhibit this Aroma. It is useful to think of this Aroma type as a specific example of the more general “roasted” category.
See our Rum Aroma Kit for more information.