Rum Shop

Rum shop with rum from all over the world

Our rum shop takes you on a tasty journey through numerous countries around the world and brings a fabulous holiday feeling to your home. Whether rum from Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic, Barbados, Colombia or Cuba – in our rum shop you will find an outstanding selection of white and brown rums for you to choose from.

The origin of rum

The discoverer of America Christopher Columbus played a decisive role in the history of rum. He brought the sugar cane plant to the North American island of Hispaniola and thus made the Caribbean the birthplace of rum. However, the origin of sugar cane is unclear. Already in the 1st century AD the plant reached Europe via the Middle East. The plant was mainly cultivated in the Mediterranean region. Due to the popularity of sugar in Europe and the high yield from the sugar cane plant, it was cultivated on a large scale. For the cultivation and the harvest slaves were mainly used.

Rum as a random product

It was discovered by chance that a kind of sugar wine can be produced from the by-product molasses. At the end of the 17th century, they began to produce a spirit from the alcoholic waste product. This brandy is only remotely comparable to today's rum. Only in the following century were the distillation methods refined. On the one hand, the traditional pot still stills gained more and more importance, on the other hand, the invention of the column-shaped Coffey Stills revolutionized distillation. The continuous distillation process made not only the production of Irish whiskey possible, but also the production of rum.

Ambassador of rum

The first large-scale distribution of rum beyond the Caribbean borders was through the Royal Navy, the United Kingdom's navy. Various records show that as early as the middle of the 17th century, high-proof rum was distilled from sugar foam on the island of Barbados and was drunk on French ships off the island of Jamaica. The Royal Navy present there noticed the lasting high spirits of the French enemy and decided to keep their own sailors happy in the future with the fire called "Kill Devil". A century later, sailors were officially entitled to a daily ration of rum. In Europe, rum only became more popular in the middle of the 19th century. This was mainly due to years of poor grain harvests and the resulting shortage of raw materials.

The production of rum

For the production of rum one needs mainly sugar cane plants. The molasses or freshly pressed sugar cane juice produced during sugar production is needed as the basic product. The molasses or the sugar cane juice is fermented and the mash that is subsequently produced is distilled once or twice. Finally, the distillate is stored, if necessary blended with other rums and bottled.

The raw material sugar cane

The basic ingredient for rum is sugar cane. Depending on the soil and climate, the plant grows for 9 to 24 months. The time of harvest depends on the sugar content of the sweet plant. This value is measured permanently. As soon as an optimal measurement value is obtained, the sugar cane plant is cut by hand or machine. Manual harvesting is of higher quality because the sugar cane tips and leaves can be removed more carefully. In a special sugar cane mill the juice is pressed out of the sugar cane - part of it is processed into sugar. For the production of rum, the by-product molasses is important. The freshly pressed sugar juice is used for the "Rhum Agricole".

Since sugar cane grows again and again without any problems, the plantation can be harvested up to 8 years in a row. In order to avoid the formation of bacteria at the cutting points of the freshly harvested sugar cane, the harvest should be processed quickly.<

The Fermentation

During fermentation, sugar is converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide with the help of yeast. This is a decisive step, because this is where the foundation for the taste of the later brandy is laid. During the fermentation process, the yeast produces the important flavors aldehydes and esters. That is why it makes sense not to rely on the quality of finished industrial yeast, but to choose from a selection of 700 different yeast varieties and grow your own yeast strains.

The duration of fermentation also plays a decisive role in the development of taste. With turbo yeast, which is mainly used in industrial production, the fermentation process only takes a few hours. When using own yeast strains, the process is only completed after seven days.

Since a lot of heat is generated during the transformation of the sugar, the fermentation process must be monitored continuously. Temperatures that are too high can cause the yeast to die off and thus cause the fermentation to end prematurely. A weak mash would result, which could only be processed into a low quality rum. For this reason, an open vat or closed system is used in which the molasses can be fermented. A constant temperature of 30 degrees Celsius must be maintained. An advantage of the closed vat is the longer fermentation time. Unfortunately, this cannot be controlled well in a closed vat. With an open vat the situation is exactly the opposite.

The distillation

With 6 to 10% alcohol content, the sugar wine produced during fermentation still has far too little alcohol content. Only with distillation and the associated removal of water does this change. Pot stills in typical bubble form or column stills/coffey stills in column form are used as stills. The same basic principle applies to both processes: water boils only at 100 degrees Celsius, alcohol already at 78.3 degrees Celsius. The fermented liquid is heated until the alcohol evaporates, condenses and returns to a liquid state. This process alone produces a very high percentage distillate. To increase the alcohol content even further, rum is often distilled twice. Due to the different boiling points of water and alcohol, desired aromas can be distilled out and others separated. Pre- and post-distillation are separated from the middle section, whereby the middle section is used for the production of rum.

The storage

Only through storage does the distillate become rum. The spirit is stored in barrels and matures to a brown or white rum, depending on the barrel.

If the distillate is stored in a steel vat or a wooden barrel, white rum is produced. The storage lasts at least three months. If the rum gets a brownish color, it is then filtered with charcoal to get the desired white color again.

The rum gets its typical brown color from the storage in oak barrels. These barrels contain the two substances sugar and vanillin, which are activated by burning out or "toasting" the barrels and are transferred to the rum during storage. The knowledge that storage plays a major role in the quality of the rum also comes from the Royal Navy. It was found that rum rations tasted much better at the end of longer sea voyages than at the beginning of the voyage. This knowledge is now being applied specifically to the production of rum. For example, storage in wooden barrels ensures the exchange of fresh air and the climatic conditions in the storage room can make their respective contribution to the maturing process.

The Blending

The matured rum does not correspond by far to what the consumer will find later in the bottle. The task of the master blender is to blend the rum from the various barrels in such a way that the result ultimately corresponds exactly to the desired taste. The challenge here is that each barrel has its own individual taste characteristics and a lot of feeling and experience is required from the Master Blender to achieve this. The master blender's sensitivity is also required for the creation of new rum varieties.

The counterpart of the blends are the so-called single casks. A Single Cask Rum comes from a single barrel and is filled without any further blending. With these rarities, the Master Blender does not have his hands in the game. What the rum connoisseur finds here is a specialty whose taste is due to nature.

A special blending method is for example the so-called Solera process. Here young rum is stored above older ones and also mixed with them. The final product is taken from the soleras, the wooden barrels stored at the very bottom. The age is determined by the youngest part of the assemblage. The result is a unique blend of rums of all ages.

Classification of rum

Martinique-Rum comes from the Caribbean island of the same name and is a "Rhum Agricole". According to the protective seal "Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée" (AOC), it can be divided into the following quality categories:

- White rum: also called "Rum Agricole AOC blanc", matures for at least 3 months in stainless steel barrels.

- AOC: also called "Rhum Paille" or "Rhum Ambré", matures for at least 1 year in oak barrels.

- Old rum: also called "Rhum vieux agricole" is aged in oak barrels and divided into further quality criteria: VO (very old): ageing for at least 3 years, VSOP (very superior old pale) ageing for at least 4 years, XO (extra old) ageing for at least 6 years and rum "hors d'age" ageing for more than 10 years and much longer.

Characteristic for Jamaica Rum is the intensive and spicy taste. Varieties of lower quality are difficult to enjoy pure and are therefore mixed with water or other spirits. High quality rums can be used pure as well as for cocktails.

A blend of Flensburg Rum with 37.5% vol. must contain at least 5% original rum and consists of rum, water and neutral alcohol.

Many names - one product

Blended Rum: Blending of several original rums.

Original Rum: is an imported original rum, sold without further processing and has a drinking strength of up to 74% vol.

Genuine Rum: is an imported, original rum that has been reduced to at least 37.5% vol.

Flavoured Rum: refers to flavoured rum, with a minimum of 37.5% vol. This includes rum-based liqueur.

Art Rum: also known as Domestic Rum, it is produced from sugar beet and flavorings.

Overproof Rum: is often used for cocktail preparation and has over 57.15% vol. alcohol content.

Rhum Agricole: is the name given to rum from agricultural production, which is produced in Haiti, the French Antilles, French Guiana, Réunion and Mauritius. Only fresh sugar cane juice is used.

Rum Blending: Rum is mixed with neutral alcohol from other raw materials.