We love our local bartenders and for good reason! Craft rum has been on the rise in recent years, with many small distilleries popping up around the world. Yet despite its growing popularity, it still remains largely underrepresented in the mainstream market. And there is NO comparison between an industrial rum and its artisanal counterpart. This is where bartenders come in. They have a crucial role in raising the profile of premium rum and introducing it to a wider audience.
Bartenders have a unique opportunity to create an experience for their customers, introducing them to new flavours and spirits that they may not have dared try before. They are the gatekeepers of the bar scene, curating menus and recommending drinks that showcase the best of what the industry has to offer. When bartenders champion craft rum and incorporate it into their menus, it helps to increase visibility and demand for the spirit. And we thank you!
Not only do bartenders have the power to introduce customers to new spirits, but they also have the knowledge and expertise to educate them on the intricacies of how craft rum is produced. By sharing their insights on the production process, flavour profiles, and history of the spirit, bartenders can help to create a deeper appreciation for the craft and inspire customers to seek out more unique and artisanal offerings.
They're also super creative and have keen palates. They use these skills to develop new and innovative cocktails, or random riffs on the classics, that showcase the versatility of rum.
Basically, bartenders are crucial in raising the profile of craft rum and introducing it to a wider audience. Through their expertise, creativity, and ability to curate experiences for their customers, they have the power to shape the drinking culture and elevate the status of craft rum in the industry.
So, the next time you’re at the bar, consider asking your bartender for a recommendation for a craft rum cocktail - you might just discover your new favourite spirit.
]]>Unlike industrial rums, craft rums can have a distinct flavour. For the uninitiated they can be 'different' or 'stronger'. Craft rums tend to be bolder, more complex and layered and may have a higher alcohol content. But why?
I recently came across information by a global group called Women Leading Rum that sums it up nicely:
1. Craft rum is often made in small batches and often in traditional copper stills, which can impart a unique flavour profile to the rum. Soltera Rum is produced in a traditional copper pot still and distillation is a hands on process for every single distillation.
2. Unlike industrial rums, which are often only made from molasses, many craft rums are made from a mix of molasses and sugar, or only sugar cane juice, providing for more complexity, even fruity and floral profiles. Soltera Rum uses a mix of molasses and raw sugar and fermentation is a handcrafted process too.
3. Some craft rum distillers age their rums in unique barrels such as ex-bourbon, ex-sherry or even ex-wine barrels, which can impart unique flavours and aromas to the rum. Soltera Rum uses 120 - 220-litre ex-bourbon barrels. On the other hand, industrial rums may use massive (thousands of litres) wooden vats to age their rum, meaning less surface area of wood to spirit, and then additives for flavour and colour are added.
4. Some craft rum distillers use techniques such as pot stills that require a double or even triple distillation, which can result in a higher-proof rum with a more intense flavour profile. Soltera Rum is a double distilled pot still rum, and the spirit run (the second distillation) is a very long, drawn out affair for the smoothest spirit possible.
5. Craft rum is often bottled at higher proofs than industrial rum because the distiller feels that the spirit sings best at a certain proof, which isn't always the stock standard 40%. This will apply to Soltera's ultra-premium range as its released in the years ahead.
There are various versions of how the original Cuba Libre came about. The highball cocktail with rum, Coke, fresh lime and sometimes a dash of bitters is, however, inextricably linked with Cuba's fight for independence against Spain.
The independence movement's slogan at the time was Cuba libre, literally, free Cuba.
Most likely the original Cuba Libre was invented during the Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898) as a non-alcoholic mix of water and brown sugar. In 1900, Coca-Cola was distributed from the US to Cuba and it didn't take long for the locals to add rum to celebrate their newly won freedom.
Fausto Rodriguez, then a messenger boy for the US army and later a Bacardi executive, claims the drink was first poured in 1900 when his boss ordered a Bacardi and Coke. A different account suggests the drink was created in Havana's famous bar, El Floridita (where Hemingway hung out), to celebrate the anniversary of independence in 1902.
What is clear is that the drink took off. First in the US during Prohibition when Coca-Cola became the mixer of choice for its ability to disguise the taste of bootlegged rums. Then travel and cultural exchanges during World War II saw the Cuba Libre expand globally and reach dizzying popularity.
At the end of the Cuban Revolution (1953-1959) the US placed an embargo against Cuba and prohibited the importation of products including -- shock horror -- its rum. Naturally, Cuba retaliated by banning US imports.
A Cuba Libre made from one part communism and four parts capitalism? Not a merry mix.
By then though the drink was well and truly entrenched in global drinking culture. Weirdly, despite its major global popularity, rum and Coke still gets a bad rap. It's often criticised for being boring, mediocre and a lazy person's drink.
Which is what leads me to house-made cola. I was recently invited by the bar manager of Bread and Butter, David, to try his house-made cola with Soltera Blanco -- a wholly artisan version of a Cuba Libre. It was a delight to discover that artisan cola, while reminiscent of the original, could be so herbaceous and fresh -- and so perfect to mix with a light rum.
Here's how you can make your own:
SYRUP
CUBA LIBRE
In a tall glass full of ice, mix 45ml Soltera Blanco with 150ml of cola and squeeze of fresh lime (not too much, the syrup is also zesty). If your syrup is light on sugar, you may wish to add a little more. ¡Salud!
Please enjoy cheerfully and responsibly.
]]>Batch 1 of Oro is a single cask release that has matured for 6 months to a year in a 115-litre American oak barrel that previously held bourbon in it.
So, what does this mean? First, as a single cask release, only one barrel has been selected and decanted into a larger stainless steel tank. Slowly, the high proof spirit was reduced from cask strength to 40% ABV, rested for a time and finally bottled.
The original barrel was a 220-litre American oak barrique. Ex-bourbon barrels are commonly used to age rum as they impart notes of vanilla and caramel, which compliments natural rum flavours, especially molasses-based rums. (Learn more about the chemical compounds that give rum it's flavour here.)
Cutting a barrel down from 220 litres to 115 litres increases the surface area of wood to spirit, which is said to increase the rate of maturation. (Learn more about the magic of maturation here.) When a barrel is cut down it receives new oak heads at each end, and this presents the spirit with virgin wood to interact with.
But perhaps the most interesting point -- to this distiller at least -- is the impact a barrel's medium char has on the spirit. This particular barrel had its interior scraped and then given a 30 second flame burn. The char provides a distinct caramel profile and it also filters and cleans the spirit, much like bench-top water filters use carbon cartridges. It turns out charring also imparts colour more quickly, note Oro's dark golden aspect has developed in less than a year in the barrel. As for flavour creation, Batch 1 features notes of toffee, caramel and toasted coconut. Yet Oro remains a fresh and lively spirit.
Another noteworthy point for this first limited release is the Angels' Share. The Angels' Share is the amount of booze that is lost to evaporation through the porous oak over time. It can be anywhere between 2-7% per year depending on ambient temperature and humidity. Often this tends to increase the ABV of the spirit as water evaporates. With Batch 1 though, the opposite happened and the strength of the spirit actually decreased. Thanks to a tip from The Lone Caner, I looked into this and learned that the molecular differences between alcohol and water mean one will evaporate more or less depending on these environmental factors. Low humidity results in water evaporating faster than alcohol – raising the strength of the spirit. This is common with scotch, for example. Here in the Northern Rivers of NSW Australia the opposite is true: unlike Scotland, here it's hot and humid. Given Cabarita Beach has experienced the wettest year in decades, it stands to reason this humidity and warmth is what caused more booze than water to evaporate.
In the end, Oro is an authentic expression of a pot still spirit made from molasses and aged in an ex-bourbon barrel. It is completely unadulterated with no additives -- no sugar, colouring, or flavouring.
Shop now while this limited release is still available.
]]>Ageing rum has to be one of the more thrilling experiences of this distiller's journey yet. Every so often I take a wee sample from an oak barrel to see how the spirit is maturing -- it's a delight every time.
In a nutshell, ageing rum involves putting distilled spirit into a wooden barrel, most commonly oak, either French or American. (The rum industry typically uses ex-bourbon American oak barrels, and if you're interested in why, read this.)
Inside the barrel a chemical tango is underway between the spirit and the wood, a push and pull dance. The most visible transformation is in the colour. All spirits come off the still as clear as water, whether the distilled spirit is sugar-based (rum), grain-based (whisky) or grape-based (brandy). It is the wood which imparts a golden amber colour to the spirit, over time giving the characteristic colour of a 'brown' spirit. But the most remarkable change is in the organic flavour compounds the wood imparts including vanillin (vanilla), oak lactones (coconut), eugenol (clove) and guaiacyl (smokiness). All together they provide the 'oaky' flavour we associate with aged spirits.
Wood doesn't just donate flavours, the dance actually creates new flavours too. The organic chemical compounds extracted from the wood interact with the spirit to form new compounds, new flavours. This is called esterification, a process which originally starts with fermentation where alcohol compounds bond with acids to create flavours, from raspberry to coffee. Rum is typically a very high-ester spirit, full of fruity, floral notes like banana and peach.
Finally, since barrels are porous they breathe and this allows oxidation that also creates brand new flavour compounds; while the evaporation concentrates flavours.
Picture a 10,000-litre wooden vat filled with spirit. Now picture a 100-litre barrel filled with spirit. Which will mature more quickly? The 100-litre barrel offers so much more surface area of wood to spirit for the chemical interactions to occur. You can age both vessels for the same arbitrary amount of time, but the spirit in the smaller container is going to come out significantly more mature.
It's important to note that spirits will also mature over time without wood. After distillation there are a tonne of organic compounds that are active and which benefit from resting in neutral containers, like stainless steel. This allows the spirit to soften and it marries disparate organic flavour compounds for a smoother, more harmonious spirit. Some distillers let their spirt rest in stainless steel for up to a year! Our unaged expression, Blanco, is left to rest in stainless steel for 4-6 weeks; combined with a very slow distillation is what makes Blanco so smooth.
Toasting and charring the inside of an oak barrel will have a great impact on the flavour profiles of the spirit. A toast subjects the wood to heat at a lower temperature for longer and provides more delicate, subtle flavours. A charr burns the barrel with an open flame for not longer than a minute -- the charcoal cleans the spirit of impurities and provides sweeter caramel notes and more colour.
So much more! Ambient temperature, seasonal variations in temperature and humidity, single casks or blends, solera systems, new or rejuvenated used barrels, and ultimately, how long the spirit spends in wood.
Under the 1901 Excise Act, in Australia 'rum' must be stored in wood for a minimum of two years before it can be legally defined 'rum'. Around the world definitions vary, most with no minimum time. The Australian craft rum scene works around this by releasing 'cane spirits' or 'aged cane spirits' while they put down barrels for the future.
]]>Batches 8, 9, 10 and 11 have been put to excellent use in filling Soltera Rum's first barrel acquisition: two ex-bourbon American oak casks. All spirits, including whiskey, rum and brandy, come off the still as transparent as water. It's the tannins in oak that impart the golden colour we're familiar with.
Wooden barrels, also known as casks, have been used to transport goods for thousands of years, but the practice of using them to age spirits evolved quite by accident. Like all good stories, it starts with a glass of wine.
Palm-wood casks were first described by the Greek historian Herodotus for their usefulness in shipping wine along the Euphrates River to Babylon in Mesopotamia; they were lighter and less breakable than clay amphorae. The barrel as we know it today, bound together with metal hoops, was most likely developed by the Celts around a hundred years later in 350BC; they transported goods including beer, nails and gold coins.
It was the Romans who recognised a good idea and improved it by introducing oak, a superior wood fit for purpose: the oak tree is fast-growing, its wood is stronger, lighter, more flexible for barrel-making and it has a tighter grain to prevent leakage. Oak also happens to boast anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties, which enables storing consumables for longer periods without spoilage.
In time, winemakers discovered that beyond storage and shipping, wine in oak barrels took on properties of the wood, extracting tannins and flavours, making it softer, smoother and sometimes better-tasting.
Spirits only entered the scene in the mid 16th Century in Cognac, France, when winemakers began distilling their light white wine. They put this brandy into oak barriques, small barrels they'd previously used for shipping Bordeaux wines, and floated them on barges down the Charente River to the Bay of Biscay and the ports of Tonnay-Charente and La Rochelle, where they continued their journey to Amsterdam and London.
Word got around and a few years later on the other side of the world, rum was sloshing around in casks being shipped across the Atlantic from the Caribbean to Europe.
For the most part, people continued to imbibe their spirits un-aged. Ageing spirits in oak only became common practice with the decline of the wooden ship building industry in the mid 19th Century - then there was an abundance of oak on the market.
Over the last century or so, the vast majority of aged rums around the world are matured in ex-bourbon barrels due to their plentiful supply coming from the American bourbon industry. According to US law, bourbon must be aged in new oak barrels and once emptied, can not be refilled. It's a great opportunity for us rum makers, as these barrels impart sweet vanillins without overpowering the spirit with an over-abundance of oak.
There is opportunity in Australia to utilise other oak barrels though, from the prolific winemaking industry. Ex-shiraz and chardonnay barrels are already being used by craft distillers and will no doubt also play a role in the future of Soltera Rum.
But for now, Soltera Rum's first two barrels are ex-bourbon American oak (Quercus alba). Originally 200 litres each, they've been re-coopered down to 120 litres. This gives the spirit more surface area with which to react and therefore increases the rate of maturation. Our sub-tropical climate also aides this.
Both barrels have been full for a few months and the spirit within is already taking on the golden hues and woody, complex profile of an aged rum. I must say, delicious!
More to come in the next blog on the magical maturation process.
In Australia, under the 1901 Excise Act, to be legally defined as "rum", spirit must be stored in wood for a minimum of two years.
]]>In its debut year, Blanco has earned a Bronze Medal in the 2021 Australian Distilled Spirits Awards, Australia’s first and largest national awards program that recognises excellence in Australian distilled spirits.
In 2021, the Awards received a record 765 entries from 191 exhibitors. This year’s entries were assessed over four days by 41 of Australia’s leading industry experts, including Seb Costello as Head Judge, with points awarded for appearance, nose, palate, balance and finish. Each entry is assessed blind and on its own merit, with no bias, against set criteria.
Blanco was among some serious competition in the Spiced Cane Spirit category and to win a medal in its very first year is an achievement we are proud of.
The judges provided excellent feedback and it's encouraging to know that Soltera Rum is ranked alongside Australia's top craft spirits.
December 16 will mark one year since Blanco was released under the Soltera Rum banner.
What the judges said about Blanco
"Lots of bright spice jumping out of the glass and well-integrated with some lovely cane juice notes, strawberries and mint and huge apple pie. Quite a deep spice on the palate, lots of woody notes, nice and dry, [a] really interesting spirit and very well constructed."
]]>A wet summer forecast has inspired us to list six summer cocktails to make the sun shine from the inside out. When it comes to good booze, we're happy to have it whatever the weather. Bring it on, La Niña! Actually, let's make it a Hurricane.
This cocktail is credited to a New Orleans tavern owner. His bar allegedly started as a speakeasy with the password was "storm's brewin'". He poured the concoction into a curvy-shaped glass and gave it away to sailors to get rid of old grog.
Shake ingredients with ice, then pour into the glass and serve over ice.
The Mai Tai became a rum cocktail so popular it depleted world rum supplies in the 1940s and '50s. According to booze lore, in 1944, Victor J. Bergeron tested a new drink on two friends from Tahiti, Ham and Carrie Guild. After the first sip, Carrie is said to have exclaimed, "mai tai-roa aé", which in Tahitian means 'out of this world - the best!'.
Add everything into a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a double rocks glass or a highball glass. Garnish with a wedge of pineapple and a cherry.
We can't do a summer cocktail list and not include the quintessential summer holiday drink, the piña colada. With two of the best tropical fruits - the coconut and pineapple - a sip transports us to faraway beaches under swaying palm fronds. In Cabarita, our local bar throws in a shot of coconut tequila, which we think is pretty awesome.
Add a handful of ice to a cocktail shaker with all the ingredients, shake and then strain into your fave cocktail glass. Garnish with a pineapple wedge or a maraschino cherry.
We also can't go past a Daiquiri, quite simply because it's our favourite and offsets the light spice mix of Blanco so beautifully. The Daiquiri, in our opinion, is the most underrated cocktail around at the moment. It's punchy like a Sidecar and has the bite of a Margarita, but best known for its simple yet perfectly balanced flavours.
Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Serve in a chill martini glass with a slice of lime to garnish.
Essentially this is a daiquiri with champagne and a dash of honey. Its earliest known reference was a decade or so after the advent of air mail by Bacardi in a booklet about the many ways to use its rum. Then it appears in a 1941 cocktail book by W.C Whitfield who wrote, "It ought to make you fly high".
Shake Blanco, lime juice and honey syrup in a shaker with ice. Pour into an ice-filled glass and top with bubbles. Seriously delish.
Like a Dark and Stormy, but with Soltera Blanco. This cocktail was named by our next door neighbour, Jane, who also happens to have a prolific lime tree.
First pour Blanco over a handful of ice in a glass, slowly add ginger beer and garnish with a wedge of lime.
]]>Smooth. It’s one of the most common and loosely used words in the spirit lexicon. We've all tasted a rum and described it as “smooth” at some point, but what precisely do we mean? Is there no alcohol burn? Is it mellow? Gentle? Mild? Light? What makes rum smooth?
Smoothness is a tricky quality to pin down, and yet we seem to know it when we taste it. Rum aficionados tend to move beyond “smooth” as a useful descriptor. At Cabarita Spirits - Soltera Rum we tend to think of our inaugural spirit, Blanco, as lively and bold, a spirit with sass.
Yet upon our first sip of Batch 006, our immediate thought was, "ah, smooth". Let it be acknowledged that this is no mean feat for an unaged spirit.
Light, smooth or delicate attributes can come from a number of different sources - such as the base fermentation material. For rums this is always sugar cane: generally straight cane juice, sugar or molasses. At Cabarita Spirits we use pure molasses direct from the Condong Sugar Mill in Murwillumbah. Could it be this?
Or perhaps, and what we think is more likely the case, it's our distillation method. Lightness or mildness can be achieved by distilling to a high proof: the more ethanol in a solution means less room for congeners (these are the flavour-containing compounds that differentiate rum from vodka). We double distill Blanco to around 76% alcohol by volume (ABV). This isn't exceptionally high (that would be around 96%ABV) yet certainly not as low as some spirits distilled to around 65%.
Let's not forget the obvious one: ageing. The chemistry of ageing (typically in wooden barrels) is a process that transform acids into simple esters (a sub-category of a congener), and simple esters (think fruity flavours) into more complicated esters (honey and spice). The longer rum is aged in wood the more ester transformations can occur and more complexity is added. Naturally there is also a transference of woody flavours into the rum. But Blanco is an unaged spirit, right? Right! Blanco is left to 'rest' for four to six weeks in stainless steel. Considered a neutral material, this provides some chemical transformation without adding flavour. First, the exposure to oxygen enables the spirit is able to breathe, much like you might aerate a wine before serving. Resting in stainless steel also allows spirit molecules to 'come together' and soften.
So, time to try Batch 006 for yourself?
]]>Four things impact a spirit's core flavour: it's base material, the yeast used in fermentation, distillation methods and ageing (wood or stainless steel).
The base material is the organic matter that provides the sugar for fermentation. In rum this is sugar in the form of granular sugar, cane juice, cane syrup or molasses. We use molasses that comes from the Condong Sugar Mill in Murwillumbah, 20 minutes down the road from the distillery. (For malt scotch this is barley, for bourbon it's grains, tequila is agave and for cognac this is grapes.)
The yeast strain(s) a distiller uses is a closely guarded secret, so essential it is to creating their spirit's unique flavour profile. Mixed with water and molasses (the 'wash'), our favourite yeasty beasties consume the sugars in the wash and expel alcohol and congeners (including esters and acids), which is what imparts flavour. Different yeast strains influence the type and amount of esters and acids created during fermentation.
Distillation uses heat to separate alcohol and concentrate acids from the wash. This is also known as rectification. Still design also influences the flavour of the spirit. Batch distillation in a pot still produces a more flavourful product as there is less separation between lighter and heavier compounds (flavours) than there is in a column still, which has more rectification. We twice distill Blanco. The first distillation takes a day. Our second distillation is a very slow process and takes much longer. This helps rectify the distillate, removing heavier compounds for a cleaner, smoother finish.
Resting in stainless steel allows the spirit to breathe and for molecules to 'come together'. This is what we do with Blanco. Ageing in wood on the other hand, transform acids into simple esters, and simple esters into more complicated esters to produce a more complex spirit. A woody flavour is also generally imparted.
Esters are the result of a chemical bonding of an alcohol or phenol to an acid. A phenol is an aromatic organic compound. Various alcohol variants (ethanol, methanol, isoproply, amyl, etc.) can help form an ester, alongside several phenolic variants. There are thousands of possible permutations offering thousands of possible esters, each with it's own unique smell and flavour!
Here’s a small sampling of esters and other flavour compounds typically found in rum:
But wait, there's more! Aldehydes. Aldehydes are organic compounds that also contribute flavours to spirits. Like esters, some aldehydes are formed prior to distillation while others form during ageing. In rum we like to go for acetaldehyde and vanillin.
After taking all that in, we'd say you've earned yourself a drink!
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As we celebrate Batch 004 hitting shelves from Byron Bay to Brisbane, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank the bars and bottle shops...
]]>As we celebrate Batch 004 hitting shelves from Byron Bay to Brisbane, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank the bars and bottle shops that have been the wind beneath our wings these last six months.
Batch 004 is dedicated to them, as is this poem of appreciation.
ODE TO A RUM BAR
Miss whatchya having? He asked with a grin,
My friend, I said, think I’ll have a gin.
He peered into my eyes with a puzzled expression,
Are you sure 'bout this unusual transgression?
I stopped with a start and thought for a minute,
Hang on a tic, that’s not my choice of spirit!
Please pardon my gaffe and shake up a daiquiri,
That, he said, Miss I will make you quite happily.
For this is a rum bar in all of its splendour,
Here we serve romance garnished with adventure.
Our rums are so sweet and oh so aromatic,
If not already you’ll become a fanatic.
Rum swizzles and mai tais and piña coladas,
Long Island iced teas, sweet as caipirinhas.
And after all that if you’re still feeling low,
We’ll sort you right out with a fresh mojito!
So I sat on the stool with my arm on the counter,
And said, right bartender, time to serve me another!
THE END.
Bold and soul-stirring, this batch of Blanco cane spirit reminds us of Cuba. While it was fermented under hot conditions in the heat of summer - which can generate strong rum oils - Batch 3 has been thrice filtered to produce a clean crisp spirit.
]]>While it fermented under hot conditions in the heat of summer - which can generate strong rum oils - after its second distillation, Batch 003 was left to rest for six weeks before being thrice filtered to produce a clean crisp spirit.
Light in body and mouth-feel, Batch 003 is a versatile cane spirit suited to most cocktails. Someone asked us the other day what it would mix well with, to which we answered, anything!
In true Cuban tradition though, our choice of mix for Batch 003 is plain ol' coke. Love it or hate it, this is the mixer in the classic Cuba Libre (literally, free Cuba). Add a generous squeeze of fresh lime and you're all set for a night of street-side salsa dancing.
Batch 003 amounts to 134 bottles (700ml, 40% ABV), with the first few already reserved to Pipit Restaurant in Pottsville. Shop now!
]]>Did you know?
The Cuba Libre was created in 1900 to celebrate the end of the Spanish American War, when American soldiers fighting for Cuba's freedom toasted to a free Cuba. The original recipe also calls for a dash of gin and bitters!
It's weird to think that booze contains oil. Alcohol is also a solvent, and often we use high-strength alcohol to clean things (hand sanitser, anyone?). But with rum, it's oils that give our spirits flavour. And Batch 002 has buckets of it.
These natural oils are created in the process of fermentation. Some impart desirable flavours that we aim for with tasting notes of pineapple and banana; and others are undesirable and we avoid these. Some flavours can be controlled in fermentation and others are managed during distillation.
At Cabarita Spirits we allow our molasses to ferment naturally without adding heat or chilling as our subtropical climate is ideal for the proprietary yeast strains that we use. When we distill, we take extreme care to separate and bottle only the choicest cut of the spirit - known as the hearts - full of lovely flavours, aromas and textures. Also, the way in which we lightly spice our spirit during the distillation process is also unique, and we only use whole, natural spices.
When you pick up a bottle of Blanco, give it a little shake. If you're lucky, you'll see some cinnamon-coloured fluffy bits. These are naturally occurring oils and proteins that give massive amounts of flavour, armoa and texture. It's called flocculation.
In an overproof spirit, say, above 46% alc/vol, these 'essences' are dissolved in the liquid. But when proofed down to 40% these oils and proteins come out of solution and create cloudiness or haze, and after some time these oils bind with proteins to produce a fluffy material (flocculation).
Big, international distilleries use different and elaborate filtration methods to remove these oils, also removing flavour. We keep things as natural as possible and do not follow these processes, though we do filter our spirits.
Our filtration does not remove all these oils though, and so we keep more of those delicious flavours. Batch 002 is exemplary of this.
So if you find cinnamon-coloured flavour fluff in your bottle, consider yourself lucky. It's perfectly natural and is meant to be there - it's flavour you can see! Give it a shake and pour away (responsibly!).
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As a nano-distillery we only produce spirits on a small scale, and entirely by hand. From stirring in the molasses to running the pot still with the patience of a monk. From start to finish, the process is managed personally.
This also applies to bottling our spirit, and labelling the bottles. If your label is slightly askew, you can blame our distiller Keri, as this is a one woman show and she does it all!
So how small is small batch? Our first batch amounted to 125 bottles.
]]>Producing high-quality spirits on a small scale is serious business! Distillation is part science, part art. In theory, producing high proof alcohol is simple.
First you create a 'wash', which is a fermented liquid. Beer is an example of a fermented liquid. Rum's fermented liquid is made by adding molasses to water with yeast.
At the heart of distillation is separating water from ethanol. Ethanol evaporates at a lower temperature than water. An alembic, or 'pot still' is like a big kettle. You fill it with the fermented liquid, the 'wash', and heat it up. Ethanol will evaporate before the water. It travels up the column and into a cooling tube where it condenses back into liquid form and is collected as the 'distillate', a higher proof alcohol than what you started with in the wash.
But the ethanol isn't alone. Compounds called congeners (esters, tannins, methanol, fusel alcohols) also evaporate during distilling, and can impact the flavour, quality and potability of the spirit both positively and negatively. The art of distilling is making sure you get the right amount of alcohol and any desirable congeners or flavouring compounds into the final product - and discarding the rest.
Trial and error has become commonplace in our nano-distillery. But we are heartened by what the great John F Kennedy once said:
Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.
So, when we make a mistake, we take a step back and learn from it. That way, our mission to continuously improve to produce high-quality spirits on a very small scale is made possible.
And then we turn up the music and get back to the business of making rum with pleasure.
]]>Produced in the spring of 2020, Soltera's first batch of its debut cane spirit, Blanco, is the result of 19 months of testing and experimentation. The last few months in particular were a trial on the new copper pot still.
Each still imparts a distinct flavour profile to the distillate it produces. This is largely due to the shape of its column and 'onion head' (pictured). It takes time to get to know a new still and work out how to get the right flavour profile.
Batch 001 is a full-flavoured, strong spirit. It was a labour of love and certainly is a testament to tenacity. It has been produced entirely by hand.
Sweet like a cherub's lips, but it has sass!
The spice mix is particularly subtle and floral, with notes of cinnamon and clove coming through.
To savour this historic batch, we recommend a deceptively simple serve: 45ml of Blanco with soda water and fresh lime. We believe that this is the best way to really taste the spirit and note the floral undertones that come from the molasses from which it is made.
Please enjoy responsibly.
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