Drinking Responsibly: Rum
Sweet Rum! Derived from sugarcane, this neutral spirit is one often mischaracterized by simplicity. With its deep and complex history, its huge breadth in cultural variation, and the seemingly endless number of ways to use it, it’s no surprise that it’s so popular amongst bartenders, college students, fine liquor aficionados, and pirates alike.
Before we dive into it…
What is Rum?
Rum, in its simplest form, is alcohol made from sugarcane. We’ll get more into exactly how its made in a moment, but this liquor gets it (almost) sweet quality from mama sugarcane, and thus it’s no surprise that it is typically and historically produced in warm, tropical regions. That being said, unlike Tequila or Mezcal, Rum is not defined by where its distilled, nor, like Gin, defined by any flavor in specific, only sugarcane.
A VERY Brief History
It’s no surprise that a drink likely invented nearly 1400 years ago has a vague and murky origins story. The earliest record of something that could be considered rum was an alcohol drink made from sugarcane juice, called Shidhu, which was mentioned in Sanskrit texts dating back to the 7th century AD. The refinement and processing of sugarcane was a well recorded advancement in South Asia, what was Persia, and the Middle East, and these practices would travel through the Mediterranean region to the rest of Europe and Northern Africa over the next few centuries. From the 11th century on this thing got really popular, having been consumer and produced everywhere from the modern-day Philippines to Krakow to Western Europe.
Now, it is undeniable that the truly explosive history of Rum is also the history of slavery and the triangle trade of Europe, the Americas / the Caribbean, and West Africa. In the 17th century, colonial powers from Western Europe exploited enslaved workers to fuel their colonial trade system, one of the constituent products of which was rum. Grown and processed (largely) on Caribbean soil, rum quickly became popular in the North American colonies (George Washington famously demanded it’s presence at his presidential inauguration) and even more popular than it already was back in the mainland of the British Empire. While slavery has been abolished, its history in rum remains. As was well said by Jason Wilson of Heated:
“Drinking old rum forces you to think about things like colonialism, slavery, American hegemony in the Caribbean and Latin America, and the significant disparity between the poverty of the workers who cut sugarcane to ferment and distill, and the wealth of those who enjoy the end product. Perhaps it’s too much to think about every time one sips a mojito or mai tai, but it’s always there. Drinks people talk a lot about terroir. We should also consider the people who struggle in that terroir.”
Recognition of this history is important for so many reasons, one of which involves the kinds of producers we choose to support, but we’ll get more into that in the “Avenues for Sustainability” section.
How is it made?
As we previously mentioned Rum is made from sugarcane. More specifically, at least for the past couple of centuries, from a molasses byproduct of the pressing and cooking of raw sugarcane. The three main processes involved beyond this point include
Fermentation: The juices of pressed sugarcane can be either naturally fermented by wild yeast or can have fermentation driven by using added yeasts. This process will have a huge impact on the final flavor and character of the rum, and can yield incredibly complex and varied flavor profiles.
Distillation: The exact method of distillation varies across borders, cultures, and eras, and while each method bears a slightly different final product, the main goal of purifying the rum carries throughout.
Aging: Most countries require by law that rum be aged for at least one year. Typically this aging occurs in whiskey casks (typically oak barrels), but it can also take place in stainless steel tanks. The aging process has a huge impact on the final flavor, color, and character of the rum. Wood-aged rum typically takes on darker color and richer, smoother flavor profiles, whereas rum aged in stainless steel tanks typically takes on virtually no color, and carries a more pungent and bright flavors.
These processes and the dials you can turn within them yield a huge variety of rum types and grades. Some of these include:
Dark Rum: This is aged for longer period of time and thus develops darker color and fuller flavor profiles (including flavors like spices and caramel)
Silver/Light/White Rum: This is typically aged for shorter periods of time and/or in stainless steel tanks, and thus has a clear(er) and lighter body with brighter flavor profiles (including things like sweetness and fruitiness)
Gold/Amber Rum: This falls between Dark and Light/White rum, often aged in oak barrels.
Premium Rum: ELITIST RUM. Just kidding. This kind of rum is typically the most pure and carefully produced for solo consumption (not to be mixed) like a fine cognac or whiskey. It’l cost ya.
Spiced Rum: Typically neutral flavored rums that are then supplemented with spices like cinnamon, rosemary, aniseed, pepper, cloves and cardamom. They are typically darker in color and can vary substantially in quality.
Overproofed Rum: these rums are brought to a significantly higher ABV than the 40% standard and thus are typically mixed for consumption (because most people don’t enjoy drinking jet fuel no matter how cold it is).
Flavored Rum: these rums are normally infused with strong fruity flavors like mango, orange, pineapple, coconut or lime. As with spiced rum, these can vary substantially in quality.
Rhum Agricole: this kind of rum is made with sugarcane juice instead of molasses. As a result of the closer connection to the original plant (less processing), the terroir becomes an important and impactful component.
How it’s enjoyed
If you have a premium or darker aged rum, I realllllyyyyy encourage you to drink it straight up and chilled (or neat if you have the palette for it). These rums have been produced to carry beautiful, complex, deep flavors within, and to each their own, but I think masking those flavors is a shame!
That being said, choose your own adventure, live your truth, *insert liberating phrase #3 *. There a million classic and delicious rum cocktails. Here’s a few to get you started:
Mojito - 10-15 fresh mint leaves, ½ lime cut into 4 wedges (can sub for ¾ oz lime juice if need be), 2 tbsp white sugar, 1 cup ice cubes, 1.5 oz white rum, ½ cup soda water, crush limes, sugar and mint in a cup until pulverized, add ice, then rum, then soda water, stir, enjoy.(authentic)
Caipirinha - 1 lime cut into wedges, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 oz cachaca (Brazilian rum), ice to fill; muddle lime wedges w/ sugar then add cachaca and ice
Cuba Libre - 1 oz rum, 3 oz coca cola, lime garnish
Daiquiri - 2oz rum, 1 oz lime juice, ½ oz simple syrup (demerara syrup is traditional though)
Mai Tai - 1.5 oz white rum, ¾ oz orange curacao, ¾ oz fresh lime juice, ½ oz dark rum, mint garnish, lime wheel garnish, 1 tsp orgeat syrup; mix white rum+orange curacao+lime juice+orgeat syrup in ice, top with dark rum, garnish
Avenues for Sustainability
Before we get into avenues for environmental sustainability, I want to connect back to the where we left off in our discussion of rum’s history. While there has been a significant shift over the past 10-20 years, many rum producers still exploit their field and production workers and subject them to awful working conditions. With our recognition of rum’s dark history and imperfect present state, it's our responsibility to support producers who not only give their workers living wages, but offer support and working conditions that put these workers’ health, wellbeing, and prosperity at the forefront. Some rum companies are fair trade certified, and others, while lacking the certification, implement initiatives to protect and support their workers. For example, Flor de Caña, a company that had been boycotted after the grueling conditions their workers endured was exposed, has now become a leading company in workers rights and conditions. That said, it can be difficult at times to nail down worker conditions on a company by company basis, but we encourage you to shop fair trade when possible and research companies you plan on supporting.
As for environmental sustainability, many producers are shifting their production methods to ones that reduce and reuse waste, minimize energy consumption, and limit direct environmental impacts (like pollution and deforestation). To briefly underscore some of the inherent issues in rum production:
Commercialized sugarcane production often results in the depletion of soils and the reduction of local biodiversity. Additionally, the commercial sugarcane industry often prioritizes refined sugar, thus leaving the molasses byproduct used in rum production at a lower quality than that which would be desired. - What can be done? Producers that grow their own sugarcane can ensure their crops are being grown to international sustainability standards, and that the molasses from which they produce their rum is of the highest quality. If this isn’t possible, then distillers can choose to purchase their sugarcane from responsible sugarcane producers. Additionally, responsible distillers and/or sugarcane producers are making an effort to protect surrounding ecosystems and preserve biodiversity by conserving and protecting land, and cycling their crops to promote healthy soil maintenance.
Modern rum production yields huge amounts of potential waste. This takes form in gargantuan amounts of wastewater (it has been estimated that for every bottle of rum, there are 10 bottles of wastewater produced) and processed sugarcane solids. -What can be done? Responsible producers are finding ways to manage their wastewater by pushing them through anaerobic digesters and other filtration systems to be reused onsite. Additionally, used sugarcane fibers/solids are being repurposed as compost to feed future sugarcane growth.
Finally, rum production requires the use of large amounts of energy to process and distill. -What can be done? Responsible producers are not only sourcing much of their energy from large commercial renewables, but are using their own waste products like biogas and steam to power their plants.
With so many producers around the world, many of which are sourcing their production materials from other places around the world, it can be difficult to track and ensure that the companies we support are treating their workers and our environment responsibly and with care. Its our responsibility to research these companies and support those who are setting a positive precedent for the industry. Drink responsibly!