RUM is currently the
talk of the town amongst bartenders in SA, so in honour of my fellow craftsmen
that competed in the Bacardi Legacia Competition, as well as all the gents that
tried their hand at mixing the lesser known Pink Pigeon Mauritian Rum, here is
a quick rundown on Rum production from sugar cane molasses...
Just a quick congratulations
to my fellow Port Elizabethan, Nick Koumbarakis, for being crowned the Bacardi
Legacia 2013 Champion! And Gareth Cliff says PE is the armpit of South Africa?
Psshhhh! Not in the bar fraternity! Keep the flag flying high brother! You
deserve it!
As I have just
returned from the Medine Ditillery in Mauritius, I will be concentrating on
Industrial Production Technique, as opposed the less popular and more expensive
Agricultural Production Technique.
I think it is
appropriate to start right at the beginning, as the origins of rum can only be
directly contributed to the wild spread popularity and need of its raw product
sugar cane. Sugar cane is produced on the Equatorial belt, where the weather
allows for perfect cultivation. It originated in the Islands of Indonesia,
known today as the East Indies. From there it was transported for trade by China
to Asia and the Arabians followed suit by transporting and trading in the
Middle East and North Africa. Soon Europe joined the trading and Spain and Portugal
started to cultivate and export sugar cane. In 1943, on his second trip to the
Americas, Christopher Columbus, transported sugar cane from the Canary Islands across
the Atlantic Ocean and it was soon spread thereafter to the Caribbean, Haiti
and Brazil. The insatiable demand for sugar in Europe also gave rise to the
development of sugar cane plantations and mills in England, Holland, France and
Spain.
As mentioned the raw
product of Rum is molasses. The by-product of sugar production, it is a rich,
dark syrup usually 30-40% in sugar content. The higher the sugar content in molasses,
the larger volume of rum can be produced from the raw product. Nowadays because
of the hugely industrial processes used to refine sugar and the need for a high
yield because of profitability, the milling process yields a molasses with lower
sugar content and therefore less Rum can be produced per ml of molasses.
Exactly where does
the molasses come from? The guys from Ministry
of Rum explain it better than I can below:
“The clarified juice is concentrated by
removing the water in vacuum pans which boil the juice at lower temperatures
and protect the sugar from carmelization as the juice becomes a rich brown
syrup.
As the last portion of water is removed under
a carefully controlled vacuum, seed grain (pulverized sugar) is fed into the
vacuum pan and thick dark crystals grow. These crystals are then separated in
centrifuges, large perforated baskets that yield golden raw sugar.
Raw sugar - approximately 96-98% sucrose - is
covered by a thin film of molasses, a dark thick syrup containing sugar, water,
plant material, minerals, and other non-sugars. The composition of this
molasses is dependent on the efficiency of the sugar manufacturing equipment
and the source of the fresh sugar cane.
To remove the molasses layer on raw sugar,
the sugar is dissolved and then separation is accomplished in centrifuges and
carbon filters to yield a water-white sugar syrup and thick dark molasses. From
the water-white sugar syrup sugar crystals are formed in vacuum pans,
centrifuged and dried before being separated according to size. Since the pure
sugar crystals are naturally colourless, no bleaching or whitening is
necessary.”
Where to from here?
Well as in any alcohol production, yeast and water is added to the raw product
in order for fermentation to take place. This fermentation process is heavily
regulated usually takes a minimum of 24 hours for white rum and up to 3 weeks
for dark rum. The yeast is generally produced and grown onsite in a laboratory.
This insures consistency of hundreds of years in the yeast strand. The fermentation
process yields a beer/wine that is made up of alcohol and congeners. These
congeners are an organic by-product of fermentation and add unique flavour and
taste to the end product.
The next process, namely
distillation, helps to strip away the water in the beer/wine, as well as
ensures a higher concentrate of alcohol and congeners. Usually this process
from continuous distillation produces rum of 80 – 95% ABV. The distillation
technique used is often dependent on the style of rum to be produced – continuous
distillation produces single distillates used for white rums and double pot
still distillation produces a fuller bodied and rich rum often used for gold or
dark rums.
Maturation takes
place making use of either once used American white oak barrels or used Cognac
barrels. The aging process creates a mellower product – it purifies the spirit
through removing unwanted smells, it enhances colours, flavours and aromas and
it creates new flavour components and ads complexity to the final product. It
is important to note that not all rums gain their colour from the aging
process, as in the case of some rums, molasses syrup or caramel is added after
distillation for flavour and colour.
Jargon:
Anejo Blanco Rum – unaged
or aged less than 3 years
Golden Rum – aged a
minimum of 3 years
Dark Rum – aged a
minimum of 5 years
Anejo Rum – aged a
minimum of 7 years
Lastly, we have the
blending process. Blending creates the different ranges of rums we have today.
This is where science meets passion... Different barrels and ages are blended to create unique taste profiles that are consistent enough to bottle, labelled and sold.
To my fellow
bartenders: let’s make a RUMBULLION about rum. Speak it, Drink it, Live it.
Me, My Drinks and I
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