Aged

"Dad, next time you go to the off licence can I come? I want to try that other Cuban rum."

"We can go now, if you like."

It is 17:47. Ton Overmars is open until six.

Andrew is developing a taste for rum. Must be from his Jamaican roots. He's dead impressed by the selection at Ton Overmars. Probably the best in Amsterdam. Stuff from all over the Caribbean and beyond. Andrew has been working his way through alternately, the cheap and the interesting ones. Depending on who's paying.

Anejo the rum is called.

"That's a bit vague, Andrew. It doesn't say how old."

Andrew's eyes are much better than mine. Especially reading 5 point print.

"Five years. There's something in Spanish I don't understand."

"Let me have look."

I grab the glasses I pretend to never need, and peer at the back label."

"It says: 'durante mas de 5 anos' - for more than five years. I wonder why they don't put that on the front?"

As we're talking about Cuban rum, Bacardi comes up.

"Do they make any serious rums, Andrew? Proper aged ones?"

"No idea."

"Let's take a look on the internet. . . . Bacardi 8 Anos."

"That sounds like it's aged, dad. What else is there?"

"This:"

"BACARDÍ AÑEJO
Originated in 1862, BACARDI Añejo rum is original, mixable light-bodied, premium aged rum. Aged for up to three years, it is blended to achieve characteristic BACARDI smoothness."

"Aged for up to three years, Andrew."

"Maybe just a year. Or six months."

"Or five minutes. I could claim Dolores's blackberry schnapps was aged for up to 3 million years."