Sugar and Distillation

Quite often on social media we get questions about Copalli Rum being sugar free. It defies reason. How can something that starts as sugar cane, not have any sugar in it?  It all comes down to the process of distillation. We’ll try to talk you through that without requiring an advanced degree in chemistry!

Copalli Rum is made from only three ingredients: fresh pressed sugar cane juice, yeast and water collected from the canopy of the rainforest that surrounds the Copal Tree Distillery. 

Once the cane juice is pressed, we add yeast and that begins the fermentation process. Over the course of about four days, the yeast converts the natural sugar in the juice into alcohol. The resulting liquid is called “wash.” The wash is put into a still — in our case either a column or pot still and heated. The heating process creates a vapor which is captured and condensed and turns back into a liquid. This is a very high proof (strong) liquid that has NO sugar. That is our rum. We might distill it again, or blend it with another rum from another still, infuse it with cacao nibs, or put it to rest in a barrel. But what comes out of the still has no sugar, and we don’t add any. That is why Copalli Rums have a smooth slightly sweet flavor, that is 100 percent sugar free. 

There are plenty of rums out there that are flavored or sweet and that is because sugar has been added after the product has been distilled. But nature didn’t make it that way, so neither will we. #WhatsInYourRum