Devon Rum

How is rum made?

Rum is produced by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice and originated in the West Indies around 1650. It is believed that plantation slaves first discovered that byproducts of sugar production, such as molasses, sugarcane juice and sugarcane honey, can be fermented into alcohol. Then, by distilling these alcoholic byproducts, they concentrated the alcohol and produced the first modern rums. The origin of the word “rum” is unclear, but many believe it is related to “rumbullion”, a beverage made from boiling sugar cane stalks.

Most dark rums from ex-British colonies like Jamaica, Bermuda and Barbados are traditionally distilled from fermented molasses. On the other hand, the lighter-bodied rums made in former French colonies like Martinique and Haiti, known as Rhum Agricole (agricultural rum), are made from sugarcane juice and are generally more expensive than molasses-based rums. A third family of rum, called Añejo, comes from ex-Spanish colonies like Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

The harvested cane is cleaned, sliced into small bits, and pressed to extract the water and sugar juice. As we mentioned above, most rum is produced from molasses with the exemption of rum made in French-speaking islands, where sugarcane juice is preferred as the base ingredient.

Then water and yeast are added to start the fermentation process. During fermentation, yeast turns sugars into alcohol, heat and carbon dioxide. Although some rum producers allow wild yeasts (like the ones found on the leaves of the sugarcane), specific yeast strains are usually used to ensure a consistent taste profile and aroma in the final product.

The next stage in rum production is distillation. Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, so if you boil the fermented molasses or sugarcane juice, collect the vapours created in batches, cool, and condense them back to liquids, the liquids collected first will be alcoholic, and those collected at the end will be water. There are two types of still used in rum production, pot stills and column stills. Although most producers are using column stills, heavy-bodied rums are usually made in pot stills.

After distillation comes maturation and blending. Like other spirits, all rums are clear after distillation. Colour in rum is the product of ageing in oak casks (usually old bourbon casks made from American oak). After ageing, rum is usually blended. Most rums are blends of light and dark rums of different ages. After blending, charcoal filtration can be used in light rums to remove the colour gained during ageing and caramel is often used in dark rums to darken their colour.