Distillation

In Mount Gay's still house, two methods come together. According to the distillery, the rum is produced from both pot still and column still, then blended afterward. Both methods separate alcohol from the fermented mash, but they do so in different ways and leave different marks on the flavor. A house with access to both can steer a rum's character deliberately between robust and light.

The pot still is a copper kettle filled batch by batch. In the double retort style, familiar on both Barbados and Jamaica, two retorts are connected downstream of the kettle. Inside them, the vapor is further enriched, so that a single pass yields a powerful distillate. The spirit retains much of the fermentation's aroma, coming across as heavier, oilier, and more aromatic.

The column, by contrast, runs continuously. Mash flows in at the top, steam rises from the bottom, and alcohol collects on the plates in between. This produces a lighter, purer distillate with a higher alcohol content. Under EU law, rum may be distilled to below 96% ABV, so that it still noticeably tastes of rum.

Mount Gay Eclipse Black shows how both distilling techniques come together in one rum: according to importers, the house blends single- and double-distilled rums aged two to seven years and bottles at 50% ABV. Blending is the true craft of the distillery. St Nicholas Abbey distills on a small scale from the syrup of its own cane, and the distiller can judge each batch individually.