Sugarcane & Molasses

What raw material is Jamaican rum made from? At Appleton Estate, it's molasses, the dark, viscous residue left over from the sugar factory after crystallisation. According to the estate, the distillery sources it through a local trade association of Jamaican rum producers.

How does molasses actually come about? The sugarcane is pressed, the juice boiled down until sugar crystals form, and whatever can no longer be crystallised is the molasses. It remains stable in tanks for a long time and can therefore be fermented far from the field.

The Nassau Valley is considered fertile ground where cane grows well. The surrounding slopes are made of limestone, which stores and filters rainwater. According to the estate, a natural spring on the property yields water filtered through limestone. This water goes into the rum.

Molasses, sugarcane juice and syrup lead to different styles of rum. Rhum agricole made from fresh juice tastes grassy and vegetal, while molasses rum like that from Jamaica tends toward darker, spicier notes. Syrup results when juice is boiled down without separating out the sugar. The EU permits all three raw materials for rum, but not beet sugar.

So how much sugar ends up in the finished rum? The molasses is fermented, its sugar converting into alcohol, and the distillate itself contains none. For a rum bearing the Jamaica geographical indication, no further sweetening is allowed after distillation. The sweetness in the glass comes from the cask and the molasses, not from a sugar bag.