“There’s naught, no doubt, so much the spirit calms as rum and true religion.”
Lord Byron
By the end of the sixteenth century Jamaica, Cuba and Puerto Rico had huge sugar plantations and the slave trade was as profitable as the sugar trade. Despite this degrading history, African slaves played a significant role in the development of rum. The first reference to a distillate based on sugar cane can be found in a report from the governor of Bahia, Tomé de Sousa. It states that the slaves were appeased by crazy sugar cane juice or cachaço (now known as cachaça). This drink, made of unprocessed sugar cane juice, soon became popular among the slaves because it was easy to obtain and produce. And although cachaça is essentially a rum, modern interpretation defines rum as a by-product of sugar cane processing, i.e. based on molasses (see below).
RUM FOR THE FIRST TIME
The insatiable European urge for sugar soon resulted in the establishment of hundreds of sugar plantations in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Dutch colonies. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the British in Barbados and the French in Martinique had developed a system of plantations that turned the Caribbean into one large sugar factory and rum distillery. In 1655, Barbados was the largest sugar producer, with an annual yield of five million dollars. However, the sugar cane plantations were facing a problem: what should they do with the waste? To make sugar, the harvested sugar cane has to be crushed to
extract the juice. That juice is then boiled until it is reduced to crystallised sugar. The remaining unused juice or molasses was an inconvenient by-product in the seventeenth century: too bulky to be shipped, and nobody knew what to do with the molasses anyway. It was tried as cattle feed and as a medicine against syphilis, but in fact it was mostly just thrown away until some clever slave mixed the molasses with a bit of water and left it in the direct sunlight. The result? A seriously delicious drink! And as the art of distillation was making its way to the tropics at around that time, we can assume that rum must have been distilled for the first time around 1650.
practice in South Africa and Mauritius, but it is no longer allowed in Brazil. During harvesting, the plant is cut off just above the ground. This is still done manually in some areas (mainly locations that cannot be reached by mechanical harvesters, such as steep slopes), but mechanical harvesting is increasingly common. The stalks are then processed to extract the juice. The extract from the first pressing is called ‘virgin honey’. The sugar is then crystallised, after which the molasses remain.
The sugar cane juice, the virgin honey and the molasses can all be used for making rum. The remaining stalk residues, also known as bagasse, are used as raw material for paper, as cattle fodder or as fuel.
PROCESSING SUGAR CANE: FROM PURE SUGAR CANE JUICE TO VIRGIN HONEY TO MOLASSES
Since no production methods have been prescribed for rum, its production is based on traditional processing methods that vary depending on the location and the distillery.
No matter whether you use sugar cane juice, virgin honey or molasses for making rum, the juice has to be extracted from the canes first. When the canes leave the field, they are 10%-13.5% sugar by weight. The canes are washed and dust and dirt are removed.
After that, they are chopped into pieces mechanically and the fibres are removed. Preparing the canes is very important, as the amount of sugar that can be extracted later on depends on this stage. The canes are then crushed under large, heavy wheels in a grinding mill. Water is added during this process to dilute the juice and to allow a second pressing if necessary. The juice is filtered after that and clarified until pure sugar cane juice remains. At this stage, the sugar cane juice contains about 16% sugar.
To raise the sugar concentration to 60% by total weight, the filtrate is heated to make sure that the excess water evaporates. The result of this evaporation is the virgin honey. The virgin honey is then boiled until sugar crystals begin to form. The sugar crystals are extracted from the thick syrup by centrifuging. They are dried and the remaining brown liquid is boiled for the second or third time to leave dark, sticky molasses. The dark mass of molasses still consists of about 55% uncrystallised sugar, as well as a lot of minerals and other components that determine the aroma and flavour of the rum later.
FERMENTATION
Fermentation occurs after yeast is added to the molasses or the sugar cane juice (mainly in the French A ntilles). This converts sugar that is still present into
A column still consists of a number of permeable modules that allow alcohol-rich gas to rise through perforated plates on the one hand, while the liquid and heavier constituents trickle back down through drains on the other. The higher the gases go, the lighter they are and the more concentrated the alcohol will be. The point at which the gases are drawn off determines the purity of the alcohol. This will usually be between 80%-96%.
The system was initially designed to make the distillation process more consistent and less labourintensive. Rum that is distilled using this method can be crystal clear, but sometimes lacks the traditional flavour often associated with rum.
EN
ANGOSTURA
ORIGIN
Angostura is a leading Caribbean rum producer and the market leader in cocktail bitters. It all started with those bitters, back in 1824 when a certain Dr Gottlieb Siebert invented a herbal mixture at his surgery in Angostura as a remedy against fatigue and stomach complaints. In 1875 the family company moved to Trinidad and early in the twentieth century it started blending local rum. Trinidad Distillers was founded in 1949, using a modern multi-column still that gave them a reputation as a producer of top-quality rum. Priced at around 30,000 euros, the Angostura Legacy rum is pretty much the most expensive rum in the world. Luckily, the other variants are much more affordable.
EN
GOLD OF MAURITIUS
ORIGIN
The is one of the newest rums, only brought on the market in 2014. This rum, designed by Frederic Bestel, is a product of Litchquor Ltd.
FLAVOUR AND AROMA
Its basis is molasses and it is distilled in the column stills of Grays Ltd. in the west of the island. For the time being, the European market has to settle for the Gold of Mauritius Dark, but the variant that has been matured for five years may yet be marketed there.
Name
Gold of Mauritius Dark 40
EN
KRAKEN BLACK SPICED RUM
ORIGIN
The kraken is a mythological creature from exciting pirate stories. It looks like a gigantic octopus or squid, hence the image on the label of the rum. However, this rum is a very recent product, designed by Proximo Spirits. This American beverage giant has ambitions to market a cocktail/long drink of its own called the Perfect Storm, using its own rum combined with its in-house ginger beer, Kraken Storm. Are they planning a competitor for the patented Dark & Stormy from Goslings?
F LAVOUR AND AROMA
This spiced rum from 2010 is based on rum from Trinidad & Tobago. Kraken Rum is matured in oak barrels for twelve to twenty-four months, after which it is blended with thirteen spices that include ginger, cinnamon and cloves. A Kraken Black Spiced Rum with an alcohol content of 40% is on the market in Belgium and the Netherlands; there is also a 47% variant in other countries such as the United States.
Name
Kraken Black Spiced Rum
EN
SIXTY SIX
ORIGIN
Sixty Six rum is made by one of the last independent family businesses in the Caribbean. The rum is distilled, matured and bottled at the Foursquare Rum Distillery in Barbados. This distillery has been owned by the Seale family since 1820 and it is still producing a fantastic premium rum to this day.
FLAVOUR AND AROMA
The Sixty Six Family Reserve rum is a small batch rum (usually 112 barrels), which is ‘tropically’ matured for at least twelve years in American white oak. Tropical maturation is the makers’ way of saying that spirits mature more quickly in the Caribbean than in Europe. After maturation for twelve years, the rum has attained a degree of maturity and complexity comparable to European spirits that are twice as old.
Sixty Six Family Reserve
EN
WRAY & NEPHEW
ORIGIN
Wray & Nephew is produced by J. Wray & Nephew, the oldest company in Jamaica and one of the largest exporters in the Caribbean. J. Wray & Nephew Ltd. is an important agricultural and industrial company that operates from three estates in Jamaica, namely Appleton, Holland and New Yarmouth. The company’s key activities are growing sugar cane, producing sugar, distilling rum and other spirits, and producing wine.
FLAVOUR AND AROMA
Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum is without a doubt the company's most important brand, and its alcohol percentage of 63% makes it a serious powerhouse that can hold its own in numerous exotic cocktails.
Wray & Nephew White
DON PAPA
ORIGIN
Ron Don Papa derives its name from the story of Dionisio Magbuelas, one of the heroes of the Philippine Revolution. He is known to the indigenous population as Papa Isio: a shaman, healer, rebel and visionary. The brand was created in 2011 and marketed for the first time in 2012.
FLAVOUR AND AROMA
Not much is known about the production. The standard Don Papa is said to contain seven-year-old rum, whereas the Don Papa 10Y, which was launched in 2015, contains blends that are older than ten years. However, independent tests have shown high levels of added vanilla and glycerol, as a result of which the rum looks much older than it actually is. No vanilla was found in the Don Papa 10Y, but it had abnormally high levels of glycerol.
SP
MOCAMBO
ORIGIN
Mocambo is a brand made by the Mexican beverage producer Licores Veracruz. This producer had been in business since the end of the nineteenth century, but was purchased in 1950 and moved to the city of Córdoba by its current owners, the Villanueva Barragán family. In addition to rum, it also makes tequila, mezcal and other spirits.
FLAVOUR AND AROMA
The basis of the rum is fermented molasses, distilled in column stills. Maturation takes place in used bourbon and whisky barrels. The bottle of the Mocambo 20 Years is very distinctive because of its bark cover, which was designed by the Mexican artist Victor Fernández.
COLOPHON
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