All rums fall into three types: dark, light, or flavored, and all start out the same way. Sugarcane is pressed to squeeze out its juice, and the water is boiled leaving a thick cane syrup. The syrup is placed in a centrifuge, which crystallizes the sugar. What remains is dark brown molasses.
Lighter Rums Are Distilled More.
The longer the fermentation process, the heavier the rum will be. The more rum is distilled, the lighter the rums become. It is possible to distill rum so much that it becomes a neutral spirit like vodka or gin.
Dark Rum.
The heavy, dark and full-bodied rums are the oldest type and have a strong molasses flavor. They are produced primarily in Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana.
Light Rum
The light rums, from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, uses cultured yeast for fermentation and modern continuous stills for distillation.
Blended and Aged.
Rums are usually blended and are aged from one to four years. White label rums are pale in color and mild in flavor, while gold label rums have a more amber color and sweeter, more pronounced flavor, the result of longer aging and the addition of caramel.
Flavored
For many years, locals flavored their rum with island spices and fruits. Early sailors added lime to improve taste and ward off scurvey. Today, flavored rum is the fastest growing segment of the rum market, a trend that is expected to continue.
Production
Rum
There is no better spirit to lift the mood than rum; it is like a drop of Caribbean sunshine. Made from a base of cane sugar and its by products, rum is far more versatile than most people think: some styles are ideal for mixing in fruity cocktails, but others are really special, and should be treated with the same respect as a fine cognac. The majority of rum production occurs in and around the Caribbean and along the Demerara River in South America, though there are rum producers in places such as Australia, India, Reunion Island, and elsewhere around the world. Rum is produced in a variety of styles.
It Begins With Sugarcane.
Rum is made from sugarcane, but there are three different products that come from sugarcane; cane juice, cane syrup and molasses. Cane juice is the result of milling and mashing sugarcane. Cane syrup is the product of boiling cane juice and putting it through a vacuum process to remove some of the water. Molasses is the black liquid which remains after all the commercially produced sugar is removed form the cane syrup by using a centrifuge.
Fermenting the Sugar.
A high percentage of residual sugar is all that is necessary for fermentation, which is why rum retains more of the original raw-material taste than most other spirits.
Rum's Flavor
Like most other distilled spirits, the characteristic flavor of specific rums is determined by the type of yeast employed for fermentation, the distillation method, aging conditions and blending.
Distillation Method
Rum is distilled from the fermented products of sugar cane, usually molasses. All Rums come out of the still as clear, colorless spirits. As is the case with all distilled spirits, rum is water white when first distilled. Amber and dark colored rums obtain their color from caramel and the extractives from the oak barrel during ageing. Lighter Rums are highly rectified (purified and blended) and are produced in column or continuous stills, after which they are usually charcoal-filtered and sometimes aged in old oak casks for a few months to add a degree of smoothness.
The main factors that will influence the quality and style of a rum are:
The source of the sugar (sugar cane direct or molasses)
The length of fermentation (short equals light rum; long equals heavy/dark rum)
The type of Still (Pot equals heavy; Continuous equals light)
The length of time in the barrel
The strength of the rum at bottling
