4 ms·

If you buy Captain Morgan's in the US, you get the same thing, industrially produced ethanol flavoured with rum essence. That's what "Bottled and finished in CA

If you buy Captain Morgan's in the US, you get the same thing, industrially produced ethanol flavoured with rum essence. That's what "Bottled and finished in CA" means. At least Romania has more honest labeling.

umanwizard 7y ago
Do you have a source for this?
- henrikschroder 7y ago
  Captain Morgan, as we're talking about them, have a bunch of different products. Some are 100% Jamaican rum, and they say so on the bottle. Their biggest seller though, Original Spiced Gold is according to themselves "a blend of rum and other spirits". "Other spirits" is an industry euphemism for Grain Neutral Spirits, i.e. industrial alcohol produced using the cheapest base and distilled to 95%, which is something you then buy in bulk. Take a look at these guys, for example: https://ultrapure-usa.com/grain-neutral-spirits-options-signature-spirits/ https://ultrapure-usa.com/grain-neutral-spirits-options-sign... Or take a look at this page: https://ultrapure-usa.com/services-2/spirits-brand-owners/ https://ultrapure-usa.com/services-2/spirits-brand-owners/ Want to launch a Gin company? Rum? Whisky? They're experts at white-labeling! Yes, you have to read between the lines to understand how this works, because none of the large alcohol brands wants consumers to know how their products are actually made, it's all obscured by deceptive labeling. Also, at the end of the day, ethanol is ethanol. The difference between Captain Morgan's Original Spiced Gold and actual Jamaican rum is like the difference between synthetic diamonds and real diamonds. Yes, both are 100% carbon in a diamond lattice with the exact same refraction index and hardness and properties. They sparkle the same, they look the same, only experts can tell the difference, but a lot of people still care about the difference.
  - kd0amg 7y ago
    There's generally more to a spirit than water and ethanol.
  - tarsinge 7y ago
    > They sparkle the same, they look the same, only experts can tell the difference, but a lot of people still care about the difference. If it’s for mixing with soda or Red Bull with lots of sugar sure the difference might not be noticeable (especially for grain based spirits). But if you drink for example a brandy like Cognac (which is distilled wine) you’ll have a hard time recreating it with artificial flavors.
    - Mediterraneo10 7y ago
      > But if you drink for example a brandy like Cognac (which is distilled wine) you’ll have a hard time recreating it with artificial flavors. There is already "cognac flavoring" that can be added to the cheap spirits that I mentioned in my post above. (It is also used for candies.) Few will notice the difference between low-end cognac and the imitation cognac.
      - henrikschroder 7y ago
        Also, the ethanol producer I linked above have options so that you can buy "cognac base" by the truckload, that gives you actual distilled wine, not just industrial alcohol. It's just as bland and neutral as possible so that you, the buyer, can flavour it and pass it off as your own cognac.

umanwizard 7y ago

Do you have a source for this?

henrikschroder 7y ago
Captain Morgan, as we're talking about them, have a bunch of different products. Some are 100% Jamaican rum, and they say so on the bottle. Their biggest seller though, Original Spiced Gold is according to themselves "a blend of rum and other spirits". "Other spirits" is an industry euphemism for Grain Neutral Spirits, i.e. industrial alcohol produced using the cheapest base and distilled to 95%, which is something you then buy in bulk. Take a look at these guys, for example: https://ultrapure-usa.com/grain-neutral-spirits-options-signature-spirits/ https://ultrapure-usa.com/grain-neutral-spirits-options-sign... Or take a look at this page: https://ultrapure-usa.com/services-2/spirits-brand-owners/ https://ultrapure-usa.com/services-2/spirits-brand-owners/ Want to launch a Gin company? Rum? Whisky? They're experts at white-labeling! Yes, you have to read between the lines to understand how this works, because none of the large alcohol brands wants consumers to know how their products are actually made, it's all obscured by deceptive labeling. Also, at the end of the day, ethanol is ethanol. The difference between Captain Morgan's Original Spiced Gold and actual Jamaican rum is like the difference between synthetic diamonds and real diamonds. Yes, both are 100% carbon in a diamond lattice with the exact same refraction index and hardness and properties. They sparkle the same, they look the same, only experts can tell the difference, but a lot of people still care about the difference.
- kd0amg 7y ago
  There's generally more to a spirit than water and ethanol.
- tarsinge 7y ago
  > They sparkle the same, they look the same, only experts can tell the difference, but a lot of people still care about the difference. If it’s for mixing with soda or Red Bull with lots of sugar sure the difference might not be noticeable (especially for grain based spirits). But if you drink for example a brandy like Cognac (which is distilled wine) you’ll have a hard time recreating it with artificial flavors.
  - Mediterraneo10 7y ago
    > But if you drink for example a brandy like Cognac (which is distilled wine) you’ll have a hard time recreating it with artificial flavors. There is already "cognac flavoring" that can be added to the cheap spirits that I mentioned in my post above. (It is also used for candies.) Few will notice the difference between low-end cognac and the imitation cognac.
    - henrikschroder 7y ago
      Also, the ethanol producer I linked above have options so that you can buy "cognac base" by the truckload, that gives you actual distilled wine, not just industrial alcohol. It's just as bland and neutral as possible so that you, the buyer, can flavour it and pass it off as your own cognac.