The Spirit Lifecycle: Rum
At St. Augustine Distillery, every drop of spirits we bottle is handcrafted with care. Why? Because we believe in capturing the Spirit of Florida® in every single step of the process. Learn how we make our flagship Pot Distilled Rum in our latest installment of the Spirit Lifecycle series!
Florida is home to a long and storied rum tradition. During prohibition in the 1920s and 30s, various smugglers known as “rumrunners” transported bottles of the spirit from Cuba and The Bahamas to Florida, where they were unloaded and sent to speakeasies nationwide. This complex smuggling network operated from Miami to Jacksonville and all the way west to Tampa, using the entirety of Florida’s vast coastline to evade the Coast Guard and get their cargo to shore.
Our Pot Distilled Rum is a continuation of our home state’s history. For 12 weeks a year, our production team focuses solely on producing, aging, and bottling our rum, using grade A Florida molasses and aging every drop of rum in our own bourbon barrels. Our 500 gallon pot still provides a richer, more complex flavor than column stills: pot stills keep more “congeners”, or non-ethanol products in alcohol that provide flavor and depth.
Step behind our production lines and learn how we make our Pot Distilled Rum!
1. Molasses Cook
Sugar is the most important ingredient in alcohol production: it provides the fuel for yeast to create alcohol. When making whiskey, this sugar comes from corn, wheat, and barley, which are milled to create an easier release of sugar. Rum, on the other hand, begins with pure sugar cane molasses, which eliminates the need for milling (and allows us time to make any necessary repairs to our milling equipment!)
We pump our molasses into our mash cooker three separate times, 250 gallons at a time for a total of 750 gallons. Then, we cook the mash and cool it until it falls below 100ºF, at which point we add brewing aids to ensure the health of the yeast.
2. Fermentation
After adding brewing aids and yeast, we empty our mash cooker into our fermentation blocks, which store the mixture at 78-80ºF. This warm, but not hot, environment creates the perfect conditions for yeast to consume the molasses sugar, releasing CO2 and heat along with the alcohol.
The fermentation process ends when the mash becomes “rum wash,” with an alcohol content somewhere between 10-12%. The low-alcohol liquid is then pumped into our stripping still, where it will undergo the next phase of the process: low wine.
3. Low Wine
“Low wine” is the name given to unrefined alcohol that has a greater alcohol content than rum wash, but has not yet achieved the desired alcohol percentage. The next phase of the process, known as stripping, creates this low wine by boiling distiller’s beer in our 750 gallon stripping still, which we call Bessie. This forms a vapor, which passes through our tubing system until it condenses into low wine and collects in a separate container
Rum, unlike bourbon, does not produce any “spent grains” as there is no grain used in the cooking process. The leftover organic material from the molasses, known as the “spent wash”, is pumped out of the still and discarded.
4. Heads, Hearts, Tails
The next phase of the process, known as refining, puts the “Pot Distilled” in “Pot Distilled Rum”. After the stripping still completes the boiling process and low wine has condensed and cooled, it is gently reheated until alcohol begins to flow from the still. This is where we make our three cuts: Heads, Tails, and Hearts.
“Heads” is the name given to the first run, which contains a high percentage of low boiling point alcohols including aldehydes and ethyl acetate. These are discarded, or used as cleaning supplies to support our mission of sustainability.
The first cut occurs when the “Heads” begin to turn into “Hearts”, or the desirable alcohol that will be barreled and eventually bottled. Rum hearts are characterized by a butterscotch and cream soda aroma, and a fruity, sweet taste.
The second, and final cut, occurs when the distillate loses its potency and gains a high percentage of “fusel oil,” a highly alcoholic byproduct of distillation. These will ultimately be discarded as well.
5. Barreling
How does our rum get that unique, light-golden honey color? Much like our bourbon, the secret lies in the 53 gallon American Oak barrels that house our spirits during the aging process. As part of our mission to reduce waste and reuse resources whenever possible, we age our rum in previously-used bourbon barrels that impart not only the trademark color, but notes of brown sugar and fruity anise.
Speaking of repurposing, we will reuse a single rum barrel as many as 12 or 13 times before it is discarded. While bourbon barrels will lose their potency after a few uses, rum barrels will yield an increasingly sweet and complex flavor the more they are used. This allows us to continue reducing waste, while creating an even more delicious rum!
6. Bottling
After aging our rum for up to a year, it’s ready to be bottled. Our bottling team works on site, hand-filling and sealing every bottle with care. Then, it’s transported to our gift shop, our retail partners, or to your front door where you can enjoy it neat, on the rocks, or in your favorite white or amber rum cocktails like our Rum Tiki or Mojito!
Continuing the Tradition
Our Pot Distilled Rum is a tried and true classic, but we are continuously exploring new ways to share this wonderful spirit. Here are some other varieties of St. Augustine Rum that have graced our shelves:
Stone’s Throw Rum
Instead of aging our Pot Distilled Rum in our own bourbon barrels, we source port wine barrels from our neighbors at San Sebastian Winery for a unique, fruit-forward finish on our Stone’s Throw Rum. The deep garnet color is sure to turn any cocktail into a striking work of art, with delicious notes of plum, cherry, and brown sugar throughout.
D. Rodriguez & Sons Overproof Rum
Named for our beloved “Day One” Danny Rodriguez, this overproof rum is a strong yet subtle spirit with notes of overripe banana and tropical fruit on the nose that gives way to a spicy and sweet flavor. The label features 5 blue stars, representing Danny’s home country of Honduras.
Experience the Spirit of Florida
We hope you enjoyed learning how we make our rum! Of course, there’s nothing quite like seeing our production floor in action, and tasting our Florida spirits first-hand. That’s why we offer free tours and tastings, available 7-days a week at our distillery in St. Augustine, Florida. Come on by and stay awhile!
