There is an old pirate who has landed in India, to give some long overdue competition to Old Monk ? the reliable friend philosopher and guide of all rum drinkers. Life beyond Old Monk is spicy and sweet depending on the choice you make. Captain Morgan, the new rum in town, is a Jamaican brew famous the world over for flavour and now available in India at Rs 500 a bottle.
The rum is named after a 17th century privateer Henry Morgan. The dude was such a legend that there is a John Steinbeck novel as well as a famous Bob Marley song about him. The rum too is a class apart, giving you a bit of the adventurous flavour of the times when high seas were ruled by buccaneers. Take a sip and the contrast to Old Monk is startling and obvious. While Old Monk has a familiar pungency and a stiffer tongue feel, the Jamaican rum is on the downy side. The reason is not difficult to find. Old Monk is made out of the waste from the sugar industry (molasses is what is left when you have already taken the sugar out of the cane) while Captain Morgan is made from sugar. This allows for sweetness to creep into the latter?s flavour, making it ideal for rum cocktails that are much more pleasant on the palate. Captain Morgan is rum with a rare intensity, almost a personal character you may not find in Old monk. The taste of Old Monk is vigorous and after a couple of rounds, a tad too much to take. Not so with the Captain, thanks largely to spicy cardamom and clove blended with sweet sugarcane. You tend to have a couple and one more and another for the road before you realise it. Should you choose to walk the plank with Captain Morgan, bear in mind that at 70% proof, the superb sugarcane distillation will slowly but surely hit you. Captain Morgan by the time the evening is out takes no prisoner!
Some top-end bars make great cocktails with Captain Morgan. At Rick?s at the Taj in Delhi, they make this refreshing cocktail on request, where they add two measures of Morgan with one of a Cuban coconut rum and a dash of fresh pineapple juice. The result is flavoured rum like nothing you have had before.
Now that winter is here and you might be at a bar in that all too relaxed rum mood, change over from the familiarity of your favourite monk and opt for the adventure of the old pirate. You are unlikely to regret the move.