The Making of Rum

Rum is made from pure sugar cane, in a process that is partly science and mostly art. Here at Montanya, we import our sugar straight from Hawaii, and mix it with pure mountain water. We add yeast and let it ferment for a week or more. At that point, there's almost no sugar left, just alcohol and water.

That's when the alchemy begins. The fermented wash goes into the copper pot of our still, and we heat it up. Because alcohol is lighter than water and has a lower boiling point, it boils off first. The alcohol travels up, through the bulbs above the pot, across the swan's neck into the condenser, and comes out as rum. It's almost that simple!

The complex part is that the fermented wash actually has several hundred different alcohol compounds, each with a different flavor and boiling point. We carefully monitor what comes out of the still, keeping what tastes great and throwing away the rest. And, the copper is a very important part because it interacts with the alcohol, improving its taste. 

Here are the key parts of the still:

• The copper pot. This is where the wash is boiled.

• The alambic head. The shape isn't decorative -- it's designed to create reflux, which is when the steam of the boiling wash condenses and runs back into the wash.

• The lentil. This is a unique part of our still, and we are in love with it. The lentil shape hides an inside channel that forces steam to flow upward in a spiral, while cold water runs across the top. This serves the same purpose as the head, creating reflux -- and in the lentil, it's precise and consistent.

• The swan's neck. This curved copper tube carries the steam across to the condenser, where it is cooled.

• The condenser. Filled with a steady stream of cold water, the condenser turns hot steam into cool liquid high-proof rum.

After the best part of the rum is collected, we put it into American oak casks that previously held Woodford Reserve bourbon. There, we age it until it's mature and smooth.  Perfect for a Montanya Mojo.

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