Sugarcane & Molasses

No sugarcane grows in Austria, and yet the alcohol in Inländerrum must come from sugarcane. That sounds like a contradiction, but it resolves itself at the sugar factory. There, the cane is pressed in the growing countries, the juice is boiled down, and the sugar is allowed to crystallize out. What remains liquid is molasses, a thick, dark brown byproduct.

Molasses is the classic raw material for rum. There's also sugarcane juice, which is fermented fresh, and syrup made from thickened juice. The EU permits all three for rum, but only if they come from cane sugar production. Molasses from sugar beets is excluded as a raw material for rum, even though it looks and smells similar.

For Inländerrum, this is more than a footnote. Since 1999, all the alcohol in the finished product must be rum, including that in the Inländerrum essence. Beet distillate and neutral spirit are therefore no longer permitted. The raw material thus comes from warm countries and only becomes distillate in Austria, since distillation and finishing are tied to the country.

It used to be different. The imitation rum known before 1999 got its flavor from essence and caramel coloring and its alcohol from diluted spirit. Sugarcane wasn't necessary for that. The fact that many merchants still pass on this old image explains the widespread misunderstanding about what's actually in the bottle.

The flavor of molasses, caramel-like, dark, and slightly bitter, forms the foundation on which producers like Stroh in Klagenfurt build their blends. According to the company, the product starts with real rum; everything else is a recipe known only to a few employees. Sugar in the sense of sweetness barely registers, since the dry extract is limited to a maximum of 2 grams per liter.