Message 20871 of 22774 in Behind the Bar

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> pls any one idea what is the diffrent between white rum and dark rum

The term heavy rum would be better than the term dark rum and light rum would 
be better than white rum. It is not really the colour making the difference 
but instead the flavour.

After distillation all rums are colourless. The colour is added just before 
the bottling and hasn't really to do anything with the production process (and 
in most cases it is also not from ageing in casks). Because heavy rum has a 
stronger flavour people like it to have a brown colour. That colour is 
associated with strong, heavy and ripened or fermented flavours and thus can 
improve the perception of heaviness. So the colour is just a trick to 
influence the perception of flavour.

The flavour is different mainly because of different fermentation. Heavy rum 
is often fermented for longer periods which results in more flavour. But also 
distillation plays a role. Distillation is a method to separate different 
chemicals. Light rums are often distilled to such extend that the resulting 
product has a more pure and neutral flavour. The separation during 
distillation has been such that there are fewer flavour molecules left. Raw 
material may play a role as well but I think it is not having much affect on 
the difference between ligth vs heavy. It can play a role in flavour such that 
a certain type of raw material suits a certain type of rum better but it is 
not really influencing/determining the type of rum one will get. It is the 
production method, the choices made during fermenting and distilling, which 
determine the type of flavour of the distillate.

I must be really bored writing this down. You could have read this anywhere 
after a bit of searching. I suggest you do that searching for your question 
about wine which isn't understandable.