Rum has its origins in the sugar refining process—a process that was elemental to the economy of the New World in the 17th and 18th centuries. While rum is a relatively recent creation, rum’s antecedents, can be traced back to at least the Middle Ages in alcoholic beverages made from fermented sugarcane such as Arrack.
Where Rum Originated
Sugarcane was brought to the Caribbean by Columbus in the late 15th century, and the process of making rum, insofar as most people would recognize it today, probably first occurred on a Caribbean sugar plantation in the 17th century. Many rum historians agree that the first rum was made on the island of Barbados using molasses.
How Rum is Made
Rum can be made from either molasses or sugarcane juice—both bi-products of refining sugar—although rum made from molasses is more popular in the Americas. To make rum, the molasses (or sugarcane juice) is first fermented by adding yeast and water. It is then distilled to concentrate the alcohol and remove impurities before being aged. Traditionally rum from the Caribbean and the Americas is aged in American oak casks.
Different Styles of Rum
Rums produced from different stills in different regions can vary widely in terms of both quality and style based on the source of the sugarcane, the length of fermentation, the type of still used for distillation, and the type of cask employed for aging. Further, how the rum is bottled can make a huge difference in the end product.
Light rum is usually the result of a short fermentation process—perhaps as short as 12 hours, although usually a day or two. Dark rum may be fermented for up to a fortnight. The rum is then distilled in one of two types of stills frequently related to the colonizing nation. For example, rum produced in former British colonies is often distilled in pot stills, while rum distilled in former Spanish colonies is more often distilled in column stills.
Aging Rum
Once distilled, the rum is aged in wooden casks that, most frequently, were previously used for bourbon. Because rum is produced in regions where sugarcane thrives, and because these regions are tropical, rum ages more quickly than other spirits such as whisky which is traditionally aged in cooler climates. As such, some will say a ten-year old rum is more akin to a twenty year old single malt whisky.
Evaporation is a factor with any spirit aged in wood. While on the one hand wood allows the spirit to “breath” during the aging process, adding complexity and value to the final product, wood also allows a certain percent of the spirit to evaporate over time. In the case of rum, the tropical climate causes more than twice as much evaporation to take place compared to a spirit such as whisky.
Blending and Bottling Rum
Once aged, rum is usually reduced to “bottle strength” by being mixed with water. Most of the readily available common brands are blended rums, meaning that a variety of styles and ages are mixed together. In the case of blended rums, the blending occurs before being reduced to bottle strength. It is not infrequent to add color (usually with caramel) to the rum at this point. In the case of light or white rums aged in wooden casks, the color resulting from the wood is removed through a filtration process.
The Most Revered Rums
Not all rums are blended, however, and it is the single cask rums (also called single barrel or single marks) that are most revered. These rums are produced from a single cask or from a specific vintage year produced by a single distillery.
Ret Talbot - Ret Talbot joined Suite 101 in December 2007, and he is now the feature writer for saltwater fish—a topic in which he is both ...
