4-Minute Read
What’s the difference between white and dark rum you might ask? The answer is they go through a distinctly different production process. Here’s the low-down:
We call our dark rum Cask Reserve because our master blend spends several long years barrel ageing in the consistent humid heat of the Caribbean and the dark, rich colour comes from the inside of the barrels. We combine a very special five year old cane ‘agricole’ rum from the Dominican Republic with a funk filled fusion of three year old barrel aged rums from across the Caribbean. The blend is finished with fresh demerara rum and a lick of bittersweet blackstrap molasses. The result is a dark aromatic sipping rum with a full bodied flavour and a smooth finish.
Our agricole rum starts life as ripe sugar cane, the cane is cut and pressed to extract its juice, the juice is fermented using local yeasts to produce an alcoholic wash of around 8% abv. This wash is distilled in column stills to produce an 80% overproof agricole rum. Finally the overproof rum is cut back with water to 70% and put into ex-bourbon American white oak barrels where it’s left to age.
The other key element in the Toti Cask Reserve blend is molasses rum. Molasses is produced by boiling down pressed sugar cane juice. This process produces sugar crystals and a thick dark treacly liquid called molasses. The molasses is mixed with water and fermented to produce an alcoholic wash of 7% alcohol which is then distilled to produce a higher strength spirit.
Cask Reserve is richly fragrant with prominent notes of caramelised banana and dried mango. The taste is rich and complex with notes of treacle tart, vanilla & ripe banana. The finish is sustained and buttery, with hints of liquorice
By contrast the ingredients in our Famous Five white rum are not barrel aged which is why it remains white. Famous Five is a multi-island “best-of-both-worlds” master-blend of the two main rum making traditions; fresh, grassy, vegetal “agricole” rum and rich, complex, aromatic Molasses rum. Our unique blend is sourced from distilleries in Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, Guyana & The Dominican Republic - our Famous Five!
Just over half of Toti Famous Five White is a wonderfully fresh, single estate, “agricole” rum from the Dominican Republic. The aromatic, funky elements in Famous Five come from the other key element in the Toti blend – unaged molasses rum.
Famous Five is richly fragrant with prominent notes of banana, pineapple and vanilla. The taste is clean and fresh with notes of toffee, butterscotch and sweet vanilla. The finish is long and complex with hints of white pepper and fresh-cut grass.
The magic of Toti Rum is very much in its secret blend. The elements are blended at high strength and then cut to two classic bottling strengths of 38% & 42%. No sugar or additives are added after distillation.
So now you know the difference between white and dark rum and what makes Toti so special and refined.
Treat your beloved to a special gift this Valentine’s day, a gift you can truly enjoy together. We've created a special double gift pack complete with Charbonnel et Walker salted caramel truffles for all you love birds out there.
And we donate 15% of profits to protecting sea turtles too, so you can feel good about doing good.