particles in Appleton Estate 21 Year Old Rum?


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RU
Rumtastic 🇬🇧 | 20 ratings Posted 1 Jan '18

100% of bottles of rum and scotch I've had over the last 15 years have had some form of sediment where they have not been chill filtered - some of this sediment has been darker in colour and is likely to be very small bits of cask, some of it is where minerals come out of solution into the spirit and form white floaters that sometimes looks like flakes of dandruff or smaller round white blobs (irreversible flocculation). Barrier filtering will not remove all of these bits as the files are not fine enough, only chill filtering will remove the sediment. If you see "clouds" or stringy looking bits (especially when the liquid is cold) then it's more likely to be reversible flocculation as the fatty acids found in the spirit clump together. Whilst it's almost true that the distilled spirit is clear, it is not just a mix of ethanol and water, it contains all those lovely congeners (fatty acids) that are produced during fermentation and result in esters - this gives the spirit flavour. If it was just ethanol and water then it'd be flavourless, and new make is certainly not!...well, sometimes...it is. The spirit gets matured and encounters oak. Ethanol and water are both solvents and will acquire molecules from the cask over time. In addition to this, new make is usually brought down to cask fill strength with local water, this water will contain molecules, minerals etc which mix with the spirit, which interacts with the cask. Don't chill filter...you'll get some of this "stuff" in your bottle.