Rum Historian by Marco Pierini
HISTORY OF CUBAN RUM
16. THE RON LIGERO CUBANO
In the January article, I wrote about the spectacular growth of Cuban rum at the end of the 1800s and focused on bottling, branding and marketing as decisive factors in its success. It is evident, though, that this success was also due to its organoleptic characteristics, that is, to the fact that a growing number of consumers found it good, better than the other rums on the market. It was indeed very different from traditional rums. Actually, it was a different kind of rum: the so-called Ron Lígero Cubano (Cuban Light Rum). This new kind of rum was clean, light, low esters, without the usual bad smells, and easy to drink. It appealed to regular consumers, but it was also appreciated by many who did not usually drink rum, thus conquering new market segments. In this article, I will try to understand what its characteristics were and what technical and productive choices they came from. It is not an easy terrain to move on, and in this article you will find more doubts than certainties, however I think it is necessary to try.
Let us begin by attempting to make a reflection on consumption. In 2020, I devoted five articles to the work of the “Royal Commission on whisky and other Potable spirits”, 1908. The Commission dealt bravely with the thorny issues of the legal definition of the products, the production methods, the raw materials and geographical origin. I do not believe that such a mass of evidence from industry professionals had ever been collected before, and perhaps even afterwards: 116 witnesses and various documents. The Commission dealt mainly with whiskey, but a lot of information can be found also on rum. One of the most interesting points is the debate on Pot Still versus Patent (that is, Column) Still and on the so-called “neutral spirits”. Many witnesses of the whiskey business stated that only the produce of the Pot Still can be rightly called Scotch or Irish Whisky, and not the “neutral spirit” produced by the Patent Still. The Commissioners were not convinced because – they said - the Patent Still had been de facto largely used to produce whiskey for many decades now. Moreover, according to some Commissioners, the Patent Still spirits were successful not only because they were cheaper than the Pot Still spirits, but also because their taste was most appreciated by the public.
Here is a testimonial about rum:
What do you say is the product of the Patent Still? – Silent spirit, I believe. It destroys all the esters and the valuable properties in the rum.
And on the Navy Rum:
“You are employed by the Admiralty, are you not? – Yes, we buy their rum.
“Do you buy all the rum for the Navy? – Yes, all.Has the consumption of rum varied very much of late years? – It has been steadily increasing lately.
I suppose that increase is mainly an increase in Jamaica rum? – No, I should not say so. I should think it was more in the other sorts. I do not think Jamaica rum has increased materially. It has slightly.
Where is it manufactured? – Chiefly in other parts of the West Indies – Demerara and Trinidad, but also Cuba, Mauritius, St. Kitts, Barbados. Most of the sugar-cane growing countries produce rum.
We once supplied the Admiralty with Jamaica rum (they usually take Demerara and Trinidad) and the sailors did not like it so well.
The bulk of the Navy rum, what is that? — That would be proof rum – not Jamaica.
But that rum is largely Patent Still rum? — Chiefly Patent Still rum.
In the Conclusions, we find this reflection:
“The advantages claimed for rum of the slow fermentation type distilled in Stills of the kind commonly used in Jamaica are frequently stated to be its flavors and its great restorative powers due to its high content of esters. As the esters contained in rum of every type consist mainly of ethyl acetate it is difficult to perceive how this not very pleasant substance can confer on rum the characteristic aroma of that spirit. …The consumers of rum in the West Indian Colonies generally prefer a clean light spirit of medium fruity flavor, usually of low esters content, to a richer, heavier, and probably a somewhat oily spirit of high contents of esters and rich in flavoring matters.”
Therefore, the Royal Commission noted in 1908 that, for some time, there had been a general change in the taste of the public that now preferred more neutral spirits. I believe that the success of Cuban Light Rum fits into this framework, offering a new type of rum, more suited to the changed desires of consumers. A question: the change of taste predated the arrival on the market of the Ron Lígero Cubano and of the other Column Still spirits? Or was it the other way round, that is, the arrival of new kind of spirits inspired the change of taste? Sorry, I am afraid I do not know.
We now come to production. Does the diversity and better quality of Cuban rum depend on the raw material? Yes, according to many, because Cuban sugar cane – they say - is better than others. Campoamor describes it in lyrical tones: “It is an axiom that without molasses there is no rum and also that molasses have different qualities in the botany of sugar cane. In plant physiology, from germination to cutting in the field, ready to start the industrial process; in the house; in the growth of its roots and aerial parts; in their nutrition, there are factors that determine their performance in sucrose. Each biological stage, at par, is conditioned by solar energy - temperature and heat -, by humidity -rain and irrigation -, by soil conditions - nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, aeration -, in addition to precise methods of cultivation and the availability of labor force. So the weather, in the first instance, is its physical author. And as much as the total weather, the light, which is part of that whole. True truth, scientific truth, is said when it is affirmed that two protective factors influence: climate and light. ... There is no secret - if the science is still secret to someone - in the quality of cane, of cane sugar, of molasses, and of aguardiente. It is a glorious chain reaction, a gift of fate to the island of rum.”(F. Campoamor “El Hijo Alegre de la Caña”). I dare to doubt that. First, because the cane had been the same for a few decades, before the birth of the Ron Lígero. In addition, today many rums are manufactured with different types of molasses bought on the market, but the rum produced remains the same. So maybe the role of raw material isn’t all that decisive.
Fermentation. The short fermentation, which still characterizes Cuban rum, may be one of the reasons, as I already wrote in the article “BACARDI” in the July 2023 issue. Unfortunately, I have not found any sources on this subject. I wrote to Bacardi asking if they knew when they had started using short fermentation, but I had no answer. However, it must have been spontaneous fermentation, because a real choice of yeasts and inoculation in sterile tanks to avoid contamination, arrived only later, in the 1900s. Distillation. We know that Bacardi started with a traditional, old Pot Still. When did they start using Colums Stills? Unfortunately, I do not know. The date of 1911 indicated by Gjelten (in his otherwise beautiful book “Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba”) is frankly too late. It is impossible that before 1911 they had produced such a huge quantity of rum with the old, “rachitic” Pot Still with which Don Bacundo began production in 1862. I also wrote to Bacardi on this subject, but again, there was no answer.
Filtration. I think filtration is important. The bad smell of rum - “the right rum stink’” so loved by the British in the past – was always a a big problema and probably became increasingly serious in the 1800s, as the taste of the public changed. Many tried to solve it. Here is an example given by Manuel Moreno Fraginals in his great book “EL INGENIO Complejo económico-social Cubano del azúcar”: “The only technical problem to overcome was that the rum had an unpleasant taste and smell of must. In 1841, José Luis Casaseca [distinguished chemist, professor of chemistry at the Havana University] requested a reward from the Royal Consulate for having discovered an infallible method of eliminating this defect. Shortly afterwards it was discovered that the Casaseca method was published since 1817 in the book L’Art du distillateur. And besides, it left a worse taste. By 1850 a rum of the present taste and quality was first obtained, thus beginning the great liquor industry, whose great development was to take place in the second half of the century.”
The solution came from chemistry. “German chemist Johann Tobias Lowitz (1757-1804) discovered and recorded, in 1785, that charcoal adsorbed noxious odours from sick people, putrid meats and rotten vegetables. He also found that the substance was excellent for removing the colour from liquids, particularly crystalline acetic acid … Merely shaking corn-based spirit with powdered charcoal removed fusel oils and unpleasant esters, improving the liquor’s aroma and taste. Undesiderable colour was quickly whisked away, producing a cleaner form of ethanol.” (J. Brown and A. Miller “Spirit of the Cane. The Story of Cuban Rum)
Later, Charles Derosne invented and marketed his own filtration system. According to Brown and Miller, “Cuba was an early adopter of Derosne’s filtration system. Cuban sugar planters Joaquín de Arrieta, Wenceslao de Villaurrutia, and Pedro Lefranc Arrieta acted as Derosne’s agents, setting up the first filtration system, in 1841, at La Mella plantation which was owned by Wanceslao de Urrutia. This de-vice streamlined tasks executed normally by slave laborers. Three years later, both Derosne and Cail recognized that the new filtration system needed to be operated by a skilled sugar master. Derosne himself travelled to Cuba” (Brown, Miller) to train workers and supervise installation. In 1918 (I think), the most authoritative Cuban newspaper, the Diario de la Marina dedicated a special issue to the major Cuban companies. Bacardi had a long article which confirmed the importance of filtration at the origin of its success. Our rum “became increasingly popular among the consumer public, distinguishing itself from similar products in Martinique and Jamaica and from all other rums in the West Indies by having a much more delicate taste and being devoid of that particular taste of other rums, which resembles the maceration of leather. ... The very special taste and aroma of this drink, which are due to a more finished work of purification (which is the secret of the house Bacardi and Co. of Santiago de Cuba) gave life to this new product of cane called the ‘Bacardi’.
Last, but not least, aging. Cuban distillers were maybe the first to consciously and deliberately age the rum on a large scale, to deeply improve the product. It was ex-pensive, but in the long run it was very rewarding. “Meanwhile, more and more barrels were dated and sealed that slept their aging in the cellar of the firm, with a secret purpose. Don Facundo, a Catalan after all, took on the most solid patience and was investing every penny he obtained in the creation of those reserves that would one day turn his cheap rums into quality liqueurs. Without knowing it - or perhaps sensing it -, that enterprising and stubborn man was performing a unique operation in the history of rum, an operation that, moreover, would later prove un-repeatable: the incosteable creation of aged rums of five, ten, fifteen years, that so many losses provoked to his budget, but that were building the bases of a true empire.” (L. Padura “La larga vida secreta de una fórmula secreta”)
I want to conclude this article with the opinion of a real Cuban rum professional. Roberto Estévez Báez, engineer specialised in sugar and alcohol, in his book “Bosquejo histórico La Industria Alcoholera En Cuba” posthumously published in 2017, writes: “It is the author’s opinion that the real cause that allowed the devel-opment of Cuban rum, as we know it today, arises from the introduction of continuous rectification equipment, which allowed the production of distillates with such purity, that the old stills couldn’t reach... Remember that the essence of Cuban rum consists of the proper mixing and processing of an impure distillate (the basic aguardiente) with purified distillates (alcohols) and thus achieves a light rum, with aroma and flavor perfectly balanced. ... Old continuous distillation system, all man-ufactured in copper, for the distillation of spirits and alcohols. These systems were the key to achieving the current characteristics of Cuban rum, along with the wise use of coal in the filtration.”
Marco Pierini
