W W W. M A R U S S I A B E V E R AG E S . C O . U K
RUM M
any years ago, when British sailors in the Caribbean first encountered Kill-Devil (the extremely rough local spirit from sugar cane) they drank copious quantities, resulting in behaviour...described at the time as rumbullion. We would like to think that this so-called rumbustious-ness may have led to the name rum. It is believed that the first distilling of sugar cane juice or molasses to make rum took place on the plantations in the Caribbean early in the 17th century and legend has it that it first originated on the island of Barbados. However, we know that South American countries such as Brazil have written evidence of distillation taking place as early as the first decade of the 1600’s following the planting of sugar cane brought across by Spanish explorers. The popularity of rum spread from the Caribbean, first to North America (where there are records of distilleries from the 1660’s in Massachusetts, and it was said New England’s biggest industry was the manufacture of molasses liquor), and then through England, Spain and their colonies. To this day, the Caribbean countries still remain the most important producers
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of rum for international consumption, although no longer the largest source of molasses. Rum, rhum or ron is the product obtained by distilling the ferment of either sugar cane juice or molasses. Sugar cane is a perennial grass grown mostly in the tropics where it thrives particularly in volcanic soils and the variety of cane planted will dictate the volume of sucrose that it will yield. It can be distilled either in a continuous still or a pot still and has no requirement to be aged in barrel. It can be any strength above 37.5 % abv with some as high as 80 % abv and can be white, light and elegant, dark, rich and pungent, or indeed any possible combination thereof. Most Caribbean islands harvest cane from February through June, but regions of South America will aim for two crops each year. The sugar cane is cut by hand or mechanically and taken immediately to the mill where it is chopped and crushed to release the juice. If the juice is to be used for the production of rum it is immediately fermented and then distilled. If it is to be used for the production of sugar, then the juice is heated
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creating crystals and subsequently centrifuged in order to separate those crystals from the molasses. Also known as treacle, molasses is, therefore, essentially all that remains after the sugar has been crystallised out of the juice. The centrifuging process is repeated many times resulting in many different grades of molasses all of which are so thick that they need to be diluted with water prior to fermentation. Fermentation is a very important stage as all the character of the end product is created at this point. It is affected by three main factors: T E MP E RATUR E The temperature of the ferment. This has a great impact on the final flavour of a rum. Ye a s t The type of yeast used. Cultured yeasts are grown specifically for a particular length of ferment, weight of flavour and alcohol strength. Wild yeasts can increase the weight of flavour and produce a longer ferment. The distillery will choose according to their house production styles.
I N F O@M AR U S S IAB EVE R AG E S.C O M