Rum Age

First of all, the age shown on the label can have a different meaning, it depends on the producer: some of them when indicating, for example, "12 years" they refer to the youngest rum in the mix, others refer to the oldest one. It's a little confusing and there are not always clear information about that so yes, it's misleading sometimes. About the ageing process: it depends on the method. For example, the "Solera" method (Zacapa is one of the most famous producers that use it) implies that the casks are put one in top of the other in a chronological order, and, on a regular basis, the rum is poured from the higher casks into the lower ones, so once the process is complete you'll have the oldest rums in the low part and the youngest in the high part. Anyway, I don't really understand what you were told but, as I said before, in a 12 years rum there's at least ONE rum that is 12 years old, or all the rums used in the mix are AT LEAST 12 years old, then again it depends on how the producer works. My suggestion is to always read the label or to visit their website to know more. Hope I've been helpful! Cheers ;)

E mi sono appena accorto che avrei potuto scriverti in italiano.. ahahah! Complimenti per l'inglese comunque!

Daniel grazie mille per la risposta e per i complimenti! Cercherò di documentarmi per ogni marca che mi interessa. Credo mi avessero spiegato il metodo Solera, ma meno chiaramente di te e mi aveva confuso. Grazie mille

Hey Tommaso, good comment, I'm surprised it's a topic that hasn't been discussed on RR more before. Some people think that the discrepancy in calculating age is what holds rum back compared to other spirits that have more standard age listing guidelines. At the end of the day, for rum it seems to be that everything goes when it comes to age. In essence, drop a thimble of 24 year old rum into a huge cask, and some producers may consider that a 24 year old rum. Many of course wouldn't do that, but the idea of solera specifically is mixing many different ages, so it's really hard to tell how old it really is.

Hello Andy, indeed. I for one still prefer the taste of Rum over other spirits, yet the principle is somewhat less precise when it comes to that. I think one may compare it to blended whisky, in which not every scotch has the same age.