Reading about the various chemical components that create a rum’s aroma, I was thinking how it’d be interesting to buy pure samples of the most common ethers and aldehydes to get an immediate experience of their scent.
While just being interesting in principle, it could also help to pinpoint a specific aroma and trace it back to a chemical compound.
Has anyone ever attempted such a collection? Since you only need very small amounts and chemicals are way less expensive in bulk, are others interested in obtaining such samples? I could compile a list and see what is readily avilable and a what cost.
There are kits for other spirits/drinks. Le Nez Du Vin makes them for wine, whisky and armagnac. I don’t know of any for rum, but maybe the compounds from whisky could serve a dual purpose?
Interesting, I didn’t know that. The price is something else though… More than 300 €. It’s a nice box and book, but I don’t need that.
I’ll see what I can find and at what price. At the end it’ll be a matter if sufficient people here are interested. From what I saw so far, 1000 ml of simple esters are between 40 and 80 €. Thus, about 50 cents per 10 ml, i.e. 10 € for a set of say 20 compounds. But - that’s only if we split the 1000 ml by 100 people.
And of course, finding even 10 people might be challenging and then it’d more like 100 € each. Maybe we could sell the sets via RumX
Anyway, first step is creating that list. Then let’s see if it can be brought to life somehow.
I sniffed the little bottles of « Le nez du vin » and I must say that although it’s a quite expensive «book», the quality of the aromas is quite poor. Not the great experience you’re waiting for.
Yes, exactly, sniffing chemicals that let you think about the real aroma in the best case scenario.
An alternative idea is to identify a few rums that are very prominent in a specific smell. One-dimensional, if you will. We can then make sample-packs of these rums.
