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| Sugarcane Juice |
What is the difference between molasses
and cane syrup? Molasses is a
byproduct of the sugar making process. The syrupy residue is left behind after
the sugar crystals are extracted from sugarcane juice during
the boiling process. On the other hand, cane syrup is made from
sugarcane juice that is
boiled down and evaporated to create cane syrup in much the same way as maple syrup is produced.
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| Barbados Molasses |
In
Richard Seale’s Facebook page, he talked about spending the morning tasting their
pot distilled rums created from cane syrup that was sourced from the St
Nicholas Abbey Estate in Barbados. The first batch is from Oct 2016, about 14
months ago and the second from June 2017, about 6 months ago. The results are pleasing but the rums are of
course far too young for release. I say this thinking of a few rum geeks who I
know would be just as happy to drink them now ! I could not help but think of them when
tasting.
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| Barbados Sugarcane Syrup |
Remarkably similar to
Foursquare molasses rums and little in common with
rum from fresh juice. This should not be surprising considering, Both
rums are distilled in a pot still by the same distiller seeking to cut what he
likes. Rhum agricole the most well
known rums from juice is a sum of its parts and the creole column still is a
key part of its signature.
Cane
syrup is a form of molasses and certainly has a lot more in common with
molasses than fresh cane juice. Cane syrup is “purer", with a higher sugar
concentration per total solids concentration, so in theory a stronger, less
diluted wine can be made, that puts less stress on the yeast. This makes a lovely rum, but so does molasses.
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| Sugarcane Cutters |
Richard Seale is a great source of information on all aspects of rum and
rum making, Watching his Facebook pages is a very enlightening read most any
day you take the time to read it.
