Rum & Oak

[rob brown]

I've been reading a bunch about Boston's molasses trade and distilling to Rum. My grandmother was 19 during the Great Molasses Disaster of Boston. Old buildings there are still stained slightly, but in my childhood, they were quite apparent and you could smell the molasses on hot Summer days.

I've been intrigued by the oak barrels that transported molasses to Boston by sailing vessel from tropic origins. My grandfather and two generations before him were all sailors beginning with stints as Cabin Boys (God!).

But the fact that the barreled-molasses got sun-baked, abandoned for other cargo, left in all weather and eventually shipped in hot hot weather is interesting. What did it do to that oak? Those barrels in pictures all looked like black sludge both inside and out. And then they we re-filled with clear rum and transported around to other nations! What did THAT do?

So I've been playing with various forms of American White Oak at all levels of char/tint/toasting. I've also been trying to impregnate the wood with molasses by basically stewing the wood in pure molasses. With lots of time and many occasions of heat/cooling repeated over and over again, I seem to be onto something. I've introduced these impregnated sticks into a series of rum jars to see what they will do for faux-aging.

Question: What ABV should I use to oak-age rum? I'm truly clueless on this, and can't seen to find a definitive answer.