On the case of fake rum

The holiday season often brings festive foods, celebratory drinks and sought-after gifts. Savvy gift givers and recipients know that holiday shopping comes with a warning and it’s not ‘watch your spending’. It’s ‘beware of counterfeits’. Fake Fenty, phoney PlayStation, bogus Birkin, replica Rolex and grifted gift cards. Whether gift giver or receiver, confirming a gift is authentic means keeping up to date with the latest scams and playing detective – exhausting work in an already hectic holiday season. 

After such work, every seasonal sleuth deserves a nice snack and potable, secure in the knowledge that festivities won’t be ruined by frauds. For the colder winter days, perhaps a hot spiced rum… except… has that been given the once-over? Agricultural fraud could mean spirits purchased for the holidays are not all they purport to be.

Hot spiced rum has been described as ‘perfect for this time of year’ and ‘an ideal holiday indulgence’. A range of recipes exist, but the 1862 classic How to Mix Drinks by Jerry Thomas calls for sugar, Jamaica rum, a mix of allspice and cloves, and a ‘piece of butter as large as half a chestnut’ to be placed in a tumbler and topped with hot water. Many regions produce rum, each with its own character, but Jamaican rums are considered unique and highly desirable. 

Rum in general is a bootlegger’s favourite and rum fraud is global. Two days before Christmas 2019, an operation led by the European Anti-Fraud Office seized nearly 150,000 bottles of rum in the Netherlands worth an estimated €2 million (£1.8 million). Fake rum isn’t just a scam, it can be lethal. A seizure in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2017 revealed counterfeit rum producers were using a bathtub gin type process that yielded products as dangerous as those produced during America’s Prohibition. For safety and economics, verifying spirits is an essential task and subject to intense research.