Rum & Cachaça
Overview
Rum is the most underrated spirit category. It is so much more than a base for fruity, tropical cocktails (which it also does beautifully). For starters, rum is extremely diverse. Styles range from clean and light to full and rich to earthy and funky and everywhere in between. Rum is also largely unregulated. As long as it's distilled from sugar cane, it's rum. Most rum comes from the Caribbean and Latin America, though it can be made anywhere.
The majority of rum is made from molasses.
Molasses is what's leftover after sugarcane juice is processed to make table sugar. Molasses is the base of about 90% of all rums. There are some rums, however, that are made from pure sugar cane juice. These are called agricole rhums (the French spelling rum). Cachaça, Brazil's national spirit, is made in this way, which is why it's included in the rum section.
Outside of its base ingredient, it’s difficult to neatly categorize rum into different styles. Some countries have their own internal classifications, others have none. They don’t even all spell rum the same way: rum, rhum, ron. I've organized them myself here. I tried my best to create sections that would best align with how the rum tastes, how it's labeled, and how it will play in cocktails. Though be prepared for some overlap and contradiction.
Below is a comprehensive look at how rum is made, which is the best why to understand the category. It's truly fascinating!
Categories &
Recommended Brands
Overview
As far as labeling goes, most rums are categorized by color and relative aging - white, gold, dark, etc. But this is a poor way of communicating the character of the liquid in the bottle, which can vary more vastly than any other spirit category.
The primary differences in rum lie in the production process which can be boiled down into three distinct styles, or more precisely, traditions: English, French, and Spanish. These traditions took shape when European countries colonized different parts of the Caribbean and Latin America through the 16th -19th centuries. Over that period the sugar and, eventually, rum industry emerged. As production evolved, territories adopted different methods and became known for certain styles of rum that are generally still maintained today.
This has nothing to do with the characteristics of the land, or terroir, like the different regions in Cognac or the altitudes of an agave used in tequila and mezcal. Most countries don't even grow their own sugarcane, they purchase molasses from elsewhere -Guyana, Mexico, Panama and Brazil are the biggest suppliers.
The Three Rum Traditions and their Rums - In a nutshell:
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English: Heavy, earthy, spicy, funky - Jamaican rum is the best example. Also traditional in Barbados, British Guyana around the demerara river (also called demerara rum), Bermuda, St. Lucia, Antigua and the Virgin Islands.
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French: Grassy, vegetal, funky (but bright), fruity. - Agricole rhum, primarily made on Martinique, Haiti, Guadeloupe and Réunion and Cachaça (Brazil) are the primary examples. These have their own page.
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Spanish: Light, clean, crisp, fruity - The most common and popular style today. Made in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Coast Rica and Ecuador.
How Rum is Made
English Tradition
These molasses-based rums are the oldest style. They're heavier, earthier, and, at their most extreme, spicy and funky - think super ripe bananas. These are also sometimes called Navy style rum, because it was the type used for the sailors’ daily rum rations by the British Navy. By the way, they continued to administer rum rations until 1970!
Production Details - The English rums get their characteristic full-bodied funkiness from a combination of factors, of which some or all may be employed:
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Longer fermentation - Fermentation can last as long as two weeks, cultivating a higher density of congeners (alcohols and flavor compounds).
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Pot-stills - This style was built on the pot-still which generally yields heavier, richer spirits compared to column stills. True English styles exclusively use a pot still, but today many of the other countries in this style only use one for some of their rum.
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Dunder - Dunder is undistilled residue leftover in a pot still after a run that is scraped up and added into the next fermentating batch. It is rich dead yeast cells and bacteria which helps to maintain good pH (acid) levels and creates more flavors compunds. You may notice this is similar to the sour mash process used with American whiskey and the method for making sourdough bread. It is only used in the more intense style rums, particularly Jamaican ones. Some distilleries further cultivate their under to yield more on this below!
Rum's Base Ingredient: Sugar Cane
All rum begins as sugarcane which is a species of grass. Originally sugar cane was only grown to extract the juice to be made into table sugar. A byproduct of that process is molasses, which initially was seen as nothing more than industrial waste. Until someone had the bright idea to let it ferment and run it through a still. Thus, rum was born.
Harvest and Press
The right concentration of sugars in a stalk is key. It needs to be harvested at a precise time. Producers keep track of sugar content by measuring the brix levels, looking for 12-16% sucrose. Once harvested, the stalks - which can grow to be 19 feet tall - are trimmed and run through a mill or press to crush the cane and extract the juice.
Making Molasses
To turn cane juice into molasses it is first clarified of impurities and boiled down until sugar crystals form. This caramelizes the sugar, giving it a darker color (white table sugar has the color removed at the end using granulated carbon). The sugar crystals are then run through a centrifuge, which is like an industrial salad spinner, that separates any remaining liquid from the crystals. This thick, brow, gooey residue that comes off at the end is what we know as molasses.
The boil and spin process is done a total of three times, resulting in three tiers of molasses concentration: light molasses (aka first, sweet, mild, or Barbados molasses), dark molasses (aka second or full molasses) and finally, blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap is most commonly used to make rum. The first two are used more for baking, they can be used for rum - they’re just more expensive.
Molasses is far too viscous for yeast to survive, so it needs to be cut with water to ferment. The style of rum being made will determine how much water is added to yield certain flavor characteristics.
Caribbean territories held by European nations in the 17th century
mirrors the corresponding styles made there today.
Sugar Cane By Cmales - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Jamaica - Where the most traditional English style rums are being made today.
Common rum categories you'll see printed on a label:
Molasses Based:
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White - Clear and clean tasting. The base of Daiquri, Mojoito and Rum & Coke.
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Gold - Lightly aged with a golden straw color and hint of vanilla and spice.
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Amber - Moderately aged, ranging from amber to brown in color with more vanilla, toffee and spice flavors.
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Dark - Heavily aged and/or colored rums that are dark brown to jet black. They are typically rich and full bodied.
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Jamaican - A robust, earthy and sometimes funky style of rum made in Jamaica. When called for specifically in a cocktail recipe, it usually means an amber Jamaican rum.
Cane Juice Based:
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Agricole Rhum - Broadly meaning any cane juice based rum. They have fresh, grassy, and at times, funky flavors. The French Carribean islands are best known for this style, particularly Martinique, but it can be made anywhere. They can both aged and unaged.
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Cachaça - Made in Brazil. It has comprable flavors to agricole rhum and is the base of the Caipirinha cocktail. Typically clear, though are some aged.
Where - These rums are traditional in Jamaica, Barbados, British Guyana around the demerara river (aka Demerara rum), Bermuda, St. Lucia, Antigua and the Virgin Islands.
Today the rums made in Jamaican are the most indicative of the old English style, which is why I gave Jamaican rum its own section.
The rums from the other countries are now mellower and less intense than their rustic ancestors. But still, you can always count on a dry, earthy bite on the finish. This nod to the rum's origins is particularly noticeable when compared to the lighter Spanish style rums.
Outside of the Jamaican rum section, other English style rum brands are sprinkled throughout the white and aged rum pages.
More on Dunder (and the Muck Pit)
I find this to be one of the most fun and fascinating topics of the entire spirit production world. Some distilleries famously store their dunder in pits, which are fittingly called muck pits (aka dunder pits). In the pit alongside the dunder can be things like fermented molasses, cane juice and decomposing fruit. There are also popular rumors of bat carcasses and goat heads being thrown into the brew, though to the best of my knowledge the truthfulness of that lies somewhere between gross exaggeration and outright fantasy. But the truth is still pretty wild. The purpose of these festering, bubbling pits is to create a sludge rich in specific types of bacteria, known in technical trade terms as "muck".
When the muck is added to the fermenting batch of yeast and molasses, the bacteria produces acids (carboxylic acids, specifically) which combine with the alcohols excreted by the yeast to create more intense and tasty flavors compounds called esters, which have varying fruity and floral aromas. The rums that utilize muck during fermentation end up being notably intense and funky. Fittingly, these are also known as high-ester rums.
While it sounds totally archaic and vile (and by all accounts that assumption is corroborated by the smell) it’s a carefully measured and essential component of this rum-making tradition, both past and present. The best high-ester rums are among the most unique, fascinating, and delicious of any spirits I'v ever tasted. Much of that is thanks to dunder and the muck pit. To go deeper down the dunder nerd rabbit hole check out these articles, which are where I got a lot of my information:
Trace Carboxylic Acid & Ester Origin in Mature Spirits
How Lost Spirits Distillery Uses Science to Supercharge Rum Flavor
Setting the Record Straight on Jamaican Rum's Mystery Ingredient
French Tradition
The French tradition of rum-making has a simple distinction. They make rum from pure sugar cane juice rather than molasses. Because cane juice is less concentrated, these rums have more vegetal, grassy flavors that veer into the funky territory, though the funkiness is brighter than that of English-style rums. As mentioned above, cane-juice-based rums fall into two categories: agricole rhum or cachaça, both of these terms will be clearly stated on the label, making this is the easiest style to identify. This is also the only one of the three styles that can be neatly bundled into a definitive category.
Production Details - Whereas most molasses-based rum producers source molasses from abroad, cane juice rum producers often oversee production from sugarcane stalk to bottle. This is because once the cane is pressed the highly perishable juice will start fermenting almost immediately and needs to go into production as soon as possible. In many cases, the sugar cane for agricole rums is being grown on nearby estates very near the distillery, if not right next to it.
Today, agricole rhum is mostly distilled in column stills to create the brightest and freshest, distillate possible. Most large scale cachaças also use a column, though many higher end artisanal cachaças use a pot still.
Where - This style can be made anywhere though it is most prevalent in the French, or formerly French, provinces of Martinique - where it has an AOC from the French government, Haiti, Guadeloupe and Réunion. Cachaça can only be made in Brazil.
Spanish Tradition
These are the light and clean tasting rums you’re probably most familiar with. This was the last style to be created and the one that made rum a household name. As clear white rums they are used in rum and cokes and as base of most classic rum cocktails and when aged, they become silky bourbon-like sipping spirits. There is none of the earthiness or funkiness of the English style.
Where
This style originated in Cuba with the Bacardi family, which then moved to Puerto Rico, where Bacardi is based now (they also make rum in Mexico). It is also common in the Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Coast Rica and Ecuador. Most of the rums on the white rum page are made in this style, and they make up a large quotient of the rums on the aged rum page.
Production details
To acheive their light, clean and slightly sweet flavors these rums basically do the opposite of the English style. They use shorter fermentations, column stills and are often charcoal filtered (with no dunder in sight).
Martinique - The home of the Rhum agricole.
Cuba - The birthplace of Spanish style rum.
Maturation and Barrel Aging
All rum styles can be barrel aged. Even many white rums spend are aged then are filtered to become clear again. Some countries won’t even consider it rum until it’s been aged for a year or more, more on that here. Other aged rums come in a spectrum of hues from gold to black with every shade in between. Like many barrel aged spirits, ex-bourbon casks are by the most common barrel used for aging rum, though sherry and others are as well. Some rums are aged using the solera style, which is a cumlative blend over several years, even decades.
The best thing about aged rum, in addition to being delicoius, is it's one of the best bangs for your buck on the spirits market. You can get a top shelf bottle for around $30-35. These bargains are because rum matures much quicker than most other spirits, and time is money.
One reason for this is sugarcane spirits don’t have as many congeners as many other barrel aged spirits, like the grain based whiskey. So it doesn’t need as much time to smooth out the rougher edges. Even more impactful is the Caribbean climate, where the majority of rums are made. The high heat and humidity creates more evaporation and absorbtion in the barrel. So the interaction between the rum and oak happens faster. As the saying goes, one year in Scotland is three in the Caribbean. If a Carribean rums is aged for too long and the wood flavors becomes overwhelming, 4-5 years is often plenty. However, the climate on the mainland of South America is cooler, so rums made there can be aged for longer. The fantastic El Dorado 12 and 15 year old rums from Guyana for exmaple.
Flavoring
Flavored rum, like flavored vodka, is how many people enjoy their rum. You can find rum flavored with pretty much any fruit imaginable, along with typically preposterous concoctions like Key Lime Pie and Cake. Many popular flavored rums that are really more like liqueurs, such as Malibu, which heavily sweetened and lower proof. Flavoring rum isn’t necessarily bad, though the majority does seem to have little interest in tasting like rum, which is why I tend to stay away from them. That being said, good flavored rum does exist. Plantation Pineapple for example which is amazing. Perhaps the best known flavored rum is spiced rum, which you can read more about - and get a recipe for making it - here.
Proof
While most rums are diluted and bottled at or around 40% ABV, agricoles tend to be a little higher. Any rum over 50% ABV is labeled as overproof rum, some go as high as 75% ABV! Rums bottled specifcially at 57% ABV may be labeled Navy Strength rum, just like Navy Strength gin, Smith and Cross is one exmaple.
Blending
Blending rum is as integral to rum production as fermentation, dsitillation and barrel aging. Some would even argue that the blender has the biggest impact on a rum's final form. A blend can include multiple rums in all manner of styles and a wide range of ages. These different varities of rum - called marks (or marques) byt he industry - are used by the blender like ingredinets, similar to mixing a cocktail, to create the perfect rum. A single distillery will often produce multiple marks of rum to be used for blends. If a blend has an age statement on a bottle, it will typically be of the youngest rum in a blend.