Rum Historian by Marco Pierini
HISTORY OF CUBAN RUM
5. AGUARDIENTE RUM
To begin with, a warning: for the sake of simplicity, I will only use the term molasses to refer to the many types of sugar production by-products from which rum could be fermented.
In the previous article, we saw how in 1764, the production of rum was finally legalized in Cuba. Legalization, however, also brought with itself heavy taxation and was not accompanied by trade liberalization. Indeed, the monopoly of Cadiz, albeit with some exceptions, remained. The end of the monopoly was slow and gradual. In 1765, the other 9 ports of the Peninsula including Barcelona, were authorized to trade with Cuba and other ports of the Empire. Then, the export of Cuban rum to Yucatán and Campeche was allowed as well as the trade of various goods even with foreigners in cases of need. Finally, on October 12th, 1788, the “Regulation for Free Trade” liberalized (almost), the trade between Spain and The Indies, while the freedom of trade with the entire world occurred only in 1818.
The production of sugar in Cuba, after 1764, increased and a strong, as well as determined class of sugar planters consolidated itself on the Island, which we could call the Cuban Sugar Barons. With some similarities, but also with many differences with the well-known British Indies Sugar Barons. Let us discover even more.
“This conversion of the landowners between 1750 and 1770 so sugar production reflected the similar conversion of English landowners to scientific farming a generation earlier, though in the case of Cuba there was always an industrial side to the development of sugar cane. This first Cuban industrial revolution was essentially aristocratic, carried out by families who stayed on the island; for these aristocrats were not absentee landlords in the same way as were English landlords in Jamaica who were off to Dorset or Wiltshire as soon as they could. Cuban entrepreneurs or their families on the other hand often spent most of the year in Havana, where they would have palaces or houses. … All remained in Cuba, providing the island with an aristocracy, however nouveau, that the English islands always lacked.” (Hugh Thomas Cuba. A History).
Cuban Sugar Barons started various local organizations, which together were centers of study, social life and political pressure: Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País (Economic Society of Friends of the Country), Junta de Fomento (Board of Development), Real Consulado (Royal Consulate) and the weekly Papel Periódico, the first newspaper edited in Cuba.
“These institutions expressed a body of opinion specifically Cuban rather than Spanish; even Captain-General de las Casas, though a Spanish by birth, settled down after his term of office on a sugar plantation and died there.” (Thomas)
According to Manuel Moreno Fraginals on his classic El Ingenio (The Sugar Mill), “it is important to distinguish what happens in Cuba from what happens in the Sugar Islands. The English Antilles were mere recipients of the industrial revolution. In Cuba, on the other hand, the development of sugar production was not imposed by the Mother Country, it rather developed on its own in spite of it. The spreading of sugar plantations changed the landscape and society of the Island”. Until the late eighteenth century there was no consciousness of a common identity of the Island. Cuba is formed by very diverse settlements, with a strong sense of autonomy. Only the diffusion of Sugar Plantations, with its “tragic monotony” creates throughout the Island a physical landscape and a homogenous social fabric, with common characteristics and interests. “The green cane fields and smoky towers were homogenizing elements of the landscape”.
Meanwhile, from 1776 to 1815, Cuba closely experienced the Atlantic age of Revolutions: the American Revolution, the French Revolution and above all the Haitian Revolution. The French colony of Saint Domingue (present-day Haiti) was the largest sugar producer in the world and it alone supplied sugar to about half of the free market. With the successful slave revolt, which started in 1791, sugar production collapsed until it was almost wiped out, leaving a great void in the market. A void that various countries were trying to fulfill. In Spain and Italy, for example, they attempted to revive the ancient medieval sugar production. Yet, it was only Cuba that filled that void. Many French planters fled to Cuba, often bringing investment, know-how and even slaves. Thanks also to them and to the resourcefulness of the Cuban Sugar Barons, the Island was rapidly transformed: by the late 1700s, Cuban sugar already had a decisive influence on the world market and its influence would continue to grow. In 1795, Francisco de Arango y Parreño, the intellectual leader of the Cuban Sugar Barons, the true ideologist and promoter of the new era, introduced the more productive Otaheiti sugar cane to Cuba, which largely replaced the traditional Creole cane.
As always, where there is sugar, there will also be rum. In fact taxes, duties and monopoly certainly slowed down, but did not stop the growth of Cuban rum. Also because Spain did not have sugar refineries and Cuba, unlike the British Sugar Islands, had to export sugar that was already refined. Therefore, it had a relatively greater quantity of molasses available and ready to go.
Actually, in many of Francisco de Arango y Parreño writings between the late 1700s and early 1800s, we find numerous references of the aguardiente de caña as a regular export item, along with sugar, hides, etc. Furthermore, there is a strong awareness that much more could be exported if it were not burdened by taxes and duties fees.
In particular, in the 1792 Discurso sobre la agricultura de la Habana y medios de fomentarla (Essay on the Habana agriculture and the ways to develop it), he writes:
“The producers must pay, according to the King’s order, two pesos fuertes (Strong pesos) for each barrel of thirty bottles they distill. But, since this is very uncertain and exposed to a thousand frauds, the Intendant has decided to have the producers in operation examined, their production calculated taking into account their power and impose the payment of a fixed amount per year. In addition to this heavy obligation, the aguardiente pays six percent when exporting from Havana.”
The pressure from the Sugar Barons and the prestige of Arango y Parreño were finally successful and with the Real Cédula sobre azúcar y aguardiente rum (Royal Decree about sugar and rum burning water) of February 23rd, 1796, the custom duties fee on exports were abolished, although not in all cases. Here is an excerpt:“
Desiring the King, in every possible way, to promote the agriculture and commerce of this Island, the prosperity of which has always merited his attention and care, both for the usefulness and welfare of its inhabitants and for its importance for the general good of the State, and bearing in mind the observations set forth by the Consul Count of Casa-Montalvo and by the Councilor Mr. Francisco de Arango in the petition of November 6th, 1794 and the reports thereon, H.M. has ordered to grant the following graces. First: that sugar refineries may be set up in all the districts of the Island, to export it to these kingdoms [that is, Spain] or to other dominions of H.M. in America, knowing that they will not enjoy any exclusive privilege … Third, that the aguardiente rum exported from this Island to the other parts of our America, where the introduction of this liqueur is permitted, shall be free from all Royal rights. The same is valid for that exported to the foreign ports of Europe, according to the permissions granted to the inhabitants of this Island, as well as what the foreigners, who bring us slaves, buy, remaining the rights that the rum exported to these kingdoms pays.”
The results were not long in coming. In 1792, Spain sent to America about 7,000,000 liters of grape aguardiente that made a strong competition to Cuban rum, and of this amount, two thirds were destined for the Port of Veracruz, Mexico. But in the following years, the Cuban rum quickly took over the market, competing with and replacing the metropolis, also taking advantage of the wars between Great Britain and France, with the resulting navigation difficulties between Spain and The Indies. In the year 1814, the total replacement of the Spanish spirits for the Cuban substitute was completed and the Island exported 4,000,000 liters of rum. Below, is the export of rum from Cuba calculated in liters, according to Moreno Fraginals:
1778 188,000
1779 363,000
1780 458,000
1781 548,000
1782 530,000
1794 1,001,000
1802 6,318,000
1803 2,022,000
1814 4,000,000
Considering that today 1 US gallon equals 3.78 liters, and that we are here not interested in a precise figure, but rather in having an idea of the quantities involved, in 1814 Cuba exported something more than one million US gallons. They are not enormous quantities, but neither are they negligible. The 1802 figure stands out, probably due to the Treaty of Amiens which reopened the normal trade routes for a short period.
In 1816, while the Spanish Main was in open revolt against the Spanish Crown, in the Siempre Fiel Isla de Cuba (more or less, Always Faithful Island of Cuba) Arango y Parreño returned to the subject, by calling for the elimination of the tax on rum production to stimulate the growth of the local industry. It is not easy for me to unravel the complexity of the Spanish tax law of the time, but I understand that the Real cedula of 1796 abolished custom duties on rum export, while the production tax was still enforced, which indeed later became even more burdensome. Here is an excerpt of the document:
“The aguardiente, Sir, which in the Antilles is called cane and in the foreign ones is known as ron or tafia, is part of the product of a sugar mill, like sugar, yet it is more worthy of Government protection as it requires more labor, it is not consumed in the nation and in foreign markets it is faced with many obstacles and powerful rivals … The fact is that the molasses from which the aguardiente in question is produced, departs from Cuba in enormous quantities for the United States where, with an enormous advantage for the industry of that country, it is converted into rum. We impose very low custom duties on molasses and we see with indifference that the Anglo-Americans, these skilled defenders of their industries and interests, prevent the introduction of foreign rum or aguardiente through a massive custom duty fee, from five to ten duros per barrel according to its quality and strength. How much better it would have been if the Cuban Board of Treasury, instead of waging war on Cuban distillers with the well-known taxation of the four reales, had instead declared war on Anglo-American distillers by rationally using their own weapons! How more useful, reasonable and fair it would have been to severely burden molasses to make aguardiente that we export to the United States, thus favoring a foreign industry, rather than oppressing our emerging one. The Council said that this operation must be done judiciously and gradually, because it knows that in our situation it is not possible to immediately convert all the molasses produced on the Island of Cuba into aguardiente. While there is no certainty of achieving this goal, it is a good thing and not a small one, to retain and attract buyers for molasses, in the same way that it is right to sell the Spanish wools at a fair price in foreign Countries, while we are not sure we can process them in our factories. Yet, just as there is no doubt that prudence and caution must be exercised in this, it is even more evident that the Cuban Board of Treasury must direct its steps only on this path.”
The tax was abolished with the Decree of the Council of the Indies on June 22nd, 1816.
With the abolition of the production tax and, two years later, the liberalization of trade, the legal constraints slowing the growth of Cuban rum disappeared. However, for Cuban rum to develop its full potential, two things were still missing: new technology and abundant labor. Both would be coming soon.
Marco Pierini
