Stades, resurrecting an old Bajan rum brand

I would imagine that these two rums would be on the upper end of the budget rum ranges, but those two fancy throwback labels will almost certainly jack up the prices. I did not use your links, but also found another link from The Rum Ration. And by the way, the proper term for rums from Barbados is not Barbadian. It is Bajan. One must be fairly well versed in soca to know this.

I corrected Barbadian to Bajan. I just read that Barbadian is a more formal term, Bajan is used by locals. Both ok for me, since I am not versed in soca.

vomi1011: Thanks for the clarification! Soca is a combination of two forms of music, SOul and CAlypso. Trinidad takes the spotlight on this, but Barbados has their fair share of soca artists. Since the late eighties and early nineties, soca has taken too much influence from hip-hop to bring it down into the toilet. On my first trip to Jamaica in 1988, I asked the locals about soca music being played there in addition to their reggae. Their response was "We don't like dat!!...It's too happy!" ohKAY!!! So why are these two rums going to the US market first? As soon as rum drinkers walk down the aisle of their favorite liquor store and see those two fancy labels, the instant urge to buy them will arise after having done no research at all. They just want them to look good on their bar. I no longer fall victim to this. This is one of the disadvantages of me not having a Smart Phone. I have to drive all the way home and research new rums on this site from my desk top computer with a big screen. For these two, I will wait until someone else posts reviews first and ignore reviews from liquor stores. After reading briefly about these two rums in the articles, they will probably be good, but not great. I already anticipate them garnering 6-7 ratings from me. Thanks for pointing them out!

Yeah, heard about it. George Stade was a German that left (fled says some) his home country in 1893 and started up WIRD in Barbados, named WIRR in those days. He then introduced the first column still to the island. WIRD are now going to release two rums bearing his name. Beach Vat No. 1, is a blended rum consisting of both pot still and column still white rum matured for some months in oak vats before bottled at 43% ABV. Bond No. 8., also a blend of pot distilled and column distilled rums, bottled at 43% ABV. This one is aged 1-3 years in ex-bourbon barrels with some more aged rum blended in. As I’ve understood it it’s available in Barbados now and will be released in the US this forthcoming summer and hopefully in Europe later on.

Paul,

What a bargain! I really hope it arrives to Europe soon. Nice picture as well.

Paul,

I've now added it to RR, so I just wait for your review/rating.

Stefan:

The next day, I went back to that store to buy a bottle of their Beach Vat 1 White rum. Out of all of my molasses based white rums that I have rated, it comes in at 6 out of 39 with an overall ranking of 25%. It is certainly no match for their Bond No 8 Dark rum.  It was still better than the risk that I took on another bottle of Foursquare ECS, which I posted under that Discusiion thread. I will take anything from Don Pancho over most of the Foursquare ECS rums.

"The Bond No. 8 (the name refers to one of the distillery’s warehouses) is aged between one and three years in ex-bourbon barrels. There is also a bit of six- to eight-year rum blended in, although the label does not include an age statement. The volatile components are given as 96 gr/hlAA. Dosage is given as 6 grams/liter."Not a big issue, 0-4g would be natural. 6g is not bad to intensify the aromas because of the dilution to 43%. 

I think there is no problem exporting this to the EU. The GI is still not enforced because of WIRD. They wanted stricter regulation. But if they were to do it strictly, they would have to avoid adding sugar.

"Three out of four distilleries want to protect the Barbados GI and the integrity of Barbados rum. Their wish list includes the following:(1) That Barbados rum will be aged in Barbados as the climate of maturation has a defining impact on the nature of a spirit.(2) Maturation must be in new oak or in refill casks from a list of recognised wine and spirit denominations.(3) Age statements must refer to the youngest spirit. Vats are not acceptable for age statements.(4) The addition of sugar syrup and flavorings is prohibited. However, caramel coloring under strict guidelines will be allowed for consistency."

All of us thats having some knowledge about W. I.R.D. knows that they don't follow the Bajan rum production rules, mostly depending on their close connection to Maison Ferrand in my opinion.So I'm not surprised that there possibly is some added sugar in the Stade's Bond No 8.But I don't see any obstacles to it being exported to the EU and I will not hesitate to take a chance on it when and if it shows up in Europe.

Since vats seem to be used in the southeastern Caribbean with none used in the USA, could anyone please explain how aging occurs in vats as opposed to wooden casks? I gather that vats are used for mass produced rums and the original Black Tot rums also came from vats.

What I know about barrel sizes in general is that a small barrel has a greater impact on a distillate than a large one. Rum sold as aged rum must rest in barrels for 3 years, perhaps this is the cheapest solution. I think it's cheaper and useful when you have a large amount of rum to store. Maybe you can get rid of the metallic taste of the fresh distillate. When it comes to young distillates, I often get a metallic taste that I don't like. The slight influence of wood is maybe be enough to remove it. This is also sometimes done with cachaca and tequila. Aged tequila is also not bad. It's peppery like some agricole.

I've found some information here that confirm my guess:  https://www.rhumattitude.com/en/blog/lart-du-vieillissement-des-rhums/

Since you don't like links: "The casks are large oak vats that can hold up to several tens of thousands of litres. The rum is rested in these vats to soften it, to give it a slight colour and to add some woody notes. The quantity of rum in contact with the wood is quite small, given the volume of liquid, so we are not really talking about ageing but rather resting." 

I have also tried young distillates from clay jugs. Instead of wooden barrels, clay jars were used for maturation. The metallic taste had not disappeared and the lime taste was very present. I think wood has a much higher impact on a distillate than other materials.

It's great that you liked Stades. I hope to buy and try it in Europe soon.

vomi1011:

I now have three bottles of Stades Bond No. 8 and there is no metallic taste. This can even be sipped neat, but cannot compete with rums aged in casks for much longer.

It makes sense that the less inside surface area to volume of rum ratio, the better the aging process is. I had been under the impression that vats were metal containers, so thanks for filling me in on them being extremely large casks.

Thanks again!!!!

Oh yes, I've already tried 6 month old distillates that were matured in stainless steel tanks. They taste too metallic for me, like white Bacardys for example, I don't particularly like them. This is really the cheapest solution to let the rum rest for a few months and then sell it straight away. That’s what the big producers do. The rum is good for mixing, but they also use wooden barrels for aged rum.You welcome. 

vomi1011:

I forgot to mention that Stade's Bond No. 8 has none of the bourbon notes that I hate, which are found pervading many other rums from Barbados. No wonder I like it.