Evaluating sensory differences in rum

A study published in the Journal of Food Science evaluates and quantitates the sensory differences of a variety of seven premium aged rums and two mixing rums as well as to validate the developed rum flavor lexicon. It was hypothesized that mixing rums would be easily distinguishable from the premium rums. Additionally, it was anticipated that many of the terms used to describe the difference in rum flavor would be found on the rum flavor wheel.

The panel methodology was a hybrid of the Quantitative Descriptive Analysis and the Spectrumۛ method. The nine samples were evaluated over a total of 23 days. During the term generation phase of the panel, panelists were allowed to generate terms freely for the first three days, without the aid of the flavor lexicon. Initially, 52 terms were generated consisting of 25 aroma, 16 aroma-by-mouth, six mouthfeel, one taste, and four aftertaste terms.

Panelists were then provided with the rum flavor wheel to aid in the generation of additional terms to adequately describe the flavor of the rums being evaluated. Results showed that the use of the rum flavor wheel aided in sensory term generation, as 17 additional terms were generated after the wheel was provided to panelists. Thirty-eight sensory terms encompassing aroma, aroma-by-mouth, mouthfeel, taste and aftertaste modalities, were generated and evaluated by the panel. Of the finalized terms, only five did not exist previously on the rum flavor wheel.

In addition, 20 attributes were found to be significantly different among rums. The majority of rums showed similar aroma profiles except for two rums, which were characterized by higher perceived intensities of brown sugar, caramel, vanilla, and chocolate aroma, caramel, maple, and vanilla aroma-by-mouth and caramel aftertaste.

Abstract