Cruzan Rum Distillery

The first thing you notice as you drive into the Cruzan Rum distillery is how small the operation looks.  The ubiquitous Cruzan Rum sign, frocked by palm fronds and guinea grass, sits out front in the Caribbean sun comfortable in its age, challenging nearby dilapidated sugar mills to crumble before it. You can hear the heavy machinery of the Diageo Capt. Morgan project being constructed right next door. While the steel austerity of the newest rum factory on island is surely imposing, Cruzan Rum, the oldest and most charming distillery in the VI, keeps bubbling away just as it has through the last 250 years.

We meet Steve Couture, the quality control chemist for Cruzan, in the parking lot. The breezy day motivating the sweet smell of the fermenting molasses to whip through the air lazily. The dank velvety citrus ring to the air is not pungent, but wistful and approachable. (I would gladly have a “Rum Distillery” air freshener tree hanging from my rearview mirror rather than “New Car”, in fact, we should get somebody on this. Okay, so I don’t have a car, but if there was a “Rum Distillery” tree, I may just have to get one. Take Heed GM!)

I have been on the general tour that Cruzan offers a few times before, which is fine for the average tourist and rum consumer. It’s a quick tour of the facility and a generous amount of time at the Rum Pavilion, where the local guides pour you all the rum you can imbibe. It always left me a little thirsty for more. Knowledge, that is.

Steve & Neill lead the way...

Steve did not disappoint. His tour of the distillery was a masterpiece of geeky chemist facts and romanticized rum making. We started at the seed tanks, 4 x 500 gallon tanks that start the initial fermentation of molasses and feed the larger 4000-gallon fermentation tanks. The 4000-gallon tanks have oxygen pumping through them to help kick start the yeast, which makes them look like frothy, bubbling cauldrons. Cruzan imports its molasses primarily from Nicaragua and has two 1 million gallon storage tanks at the Hovensa docks. That, my friends, is a lot of molasses.

Seed Tanks

First stage fermentation

Next, the 4000-gallon tanks feed the second stage fermenters, of which there are 10 that hold 25,000 – 27,000 gallons and 4 others that hold 75,000 – 100,000 gallons of fermenting molasses. Looking down into these huge tanks is a little disconcerting, with huge churning, massive amounts of teeming fluid. The top of these tanks are still bubbling and frothing about, Steve explained that this was the yeast eating up the sugar and the foam at the top was the carbon dioxide evacuating. It’s amazing to see this huge amount of liquid, just swarming with that micro biotic life that keeps me employed. Thanks little yeast buddies!

Fermenting Yeast of Doom!

After 48 – 72 hours the yeast has done its job and the soon-to-be rum moves on to its next step. At this point the mixture bills in at around 10% alcohol, so now it’s time to distill this stuff!

5 column's of deliciousness

Tallest structure on St. Croix

The Five Column still is an imposing structure, the tallest on St. Croix in fact. The simplest way to explain what happens here is they pull out all the water from the mash and separate the alcohols. Fusel alcohols are pulled out and re-introduced to the distillation process in order to get out all the good ethanol parts. Cruzan’s rum blend is almost entirely Ethanol alcohol, which is why there aren’t those pesky astringency and tip-of-the-tongue biting qualities that other alcohols provide. Through five columns of plate separation, Cruzan uniquely distills a product that is equally palatable and malleable.

The used mash is then sent careening down the cooling slide and then is pumped out to sea via the south shore. Steve explains that the majority of waste is biodegradable, but there are some antibiotics used in distillation that makes it through. The new waste treatment plant Cruzan wants to build and approved by the DeJongh administration is a step in the right direction. The molasses would be dried and sold as cattle feed (I’m fully behind organic, molasses fed Single Barrel beef) while Cruzan claims it can boost production as well. Sweet, better tasting Senepol and more rum? I’m down.

Light at the end of a Dark Rum tunnel

After distillation the 189 proof “rum” moves on to the barreling/storage phase. As Steve led us through the cavernous rooms full of barreled rum, my eyes started to glaze over. Countless rows upon rows of barrels stacked to the ceiling, calmly working their magic on the contents inside. It seriously looks like the last scene of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” when the non-descript military forklift secures away the boxed up Ark in the abyss of equally non-descript boxes. A Hyrule worthy maze of rum barrels. I know this euphemism has been dug so many times we’re at bedrock, but it was honestly reminiscent of my first trip to Toy’s R Us as a wee lad. (Actually, I was never a “wee lad”… young pup maybe, but I reckon I’ve listened to enough Pogues and drank enough Guinness to co-opt the term for this post)

Cruzan Single Barrel is actually a blend of the best rums that have been aged up to 12 years. They then age them in “new” (see: “unused”) American Oak barrels for at least another year.

Cruzan Dark & Cruzan Light are both aged for 14 months to two years in used American Oak whiskey barrels before they are popped open, filtered through charcoal, put in steel tanks and shipped to Florida for bottling. Sadly, no Cruzan product is bottled on St. Croix anymore.

Cruzan also makes spiced rum that is sold outside the company label. Alas, Clipper is no more…

Cruzan’s output is frighteningly massive. Last year they produce 10.5 million proof gallons of rum. Anytime you see a label that reads “Product of the Virgin Islands” it was made at Cruzan. 80% of the distillate Cruzan makes is not made into Cruzan Rum. The majority is sold to other liquor companies and businesses that have set standards that may or may not be as high as Cruzan reserves for it’s own label. The high proof 189 “rum” that Cruzan makes is coveted for it’s excellent extraction properties and chances are, next time you use some Vanilla Extract in those cookies for Grandma, Cruzan had a hand in it.

I wish my job had four mini stills in the breakroom

Tasting.

Steve, wiping his brow from the unbelievably informative tour, then brought us into the lab for a tasting. I’m totally pumped for this part of the tour, as Steve has promised to let us sample some of the last of the Estate Diamond left on planet Earth. Yes!

First, Steve brought four samples out to us. All but the pure distillate were diluted to 48 proof. All my tasting notes are unfiltered and unedited except for spelling. I swear you can tell when I start to go from being an impartial observer to  “I’m in Rum Nirvana” stage.

1. Pure Distillate straight from the tanks, no aging.
2. Dark rum. From the barrel.
3. Light Rum. From the barrel.
4. Spiced Rum. Small aging, from a tank ready to be shipped.

it has begun....

Pure Distillate.

My notes simply read “No Flavor” and that’s all there was to it. There was no discernable nose and when you taste it, it has a slight alcohol burn, but remarkably smoother than most, ahem, “high end vodka’s that come in a blue bottle and ruined the 90’s for the Rum/Whiskey drinkers”

Dark Rum.

Warm and oaky, a small residual sugar flavor that hangs on to the tip of your tongue.

Light Rum.

It smells like a butane camping stove from 6 inches away. A weak, spongy flavor profile that seems easy to manipulate. Kind of like that one girl in every season of The Real World that you always feel bad for because she sticks up for the brash loudmouth roommate even though he talks trash about her when she’s not around. I mean this in the best possible way. (Seriously, that’s what my notes say)

Spiced Rum.

Smells like Dr. Pepper. A sweet, bubblegum, cotton candy flavor in the mouth, it loses some of the nuanced spices but maintains a long, long finish that is undeniably enjoyable. I have got to get my hands on some.

Next, Steve brought us five more samples. All he would tell us is that two of them were Cruzan, and the other three were of a comparable price range. Steve explained to us that the samples were diluted to 48 proof.  I love the complexity and brashness of brown spirits. If I’m going to taste high-end rum, don’t I want them at their bottled purist? No, explained Steve, most people add ice or mixers to their drinks, so why not make your product the best it can be, but also allow the distinctive essence of the spirit to shine through over the dilution. There are a lot of spirit makers that bank on you diluting their product in order to hide the deficiencies. Cruzan makes sure there are none in the first place and then highlights the best points of their product no matter how it’s served.

Back to the tasting…

Okay, so Steve puts out five glasses of comparable high-end rum diluted to 48 proof. Once again, tasting notes, unedited.

The hidden 5

1. Glass # 1024

Easy, not much going on in the nose. The finish is a little citrusy, almost like a glass of Falernum left out overnight.

2. Glass # 2036

Better than the last. Caramel in the nose. Doesn’t stick around long. Some vanilla there?

3. Glass # 2044

Fleeting. Cinnamon and sugar in the nose. Dissipates quickly. Nothing sticks with you. Not my favorite.

4. Glass # 2006

Wow. Perfect. I love this. I could sit here all day and drink this. I just might. This has to be Estate Diamond. Has to be. Big nose of rich maple and espresso. Vanilla and spice in the long finish. Exceptional. Has to be ED.

5. Glass # 2022

Gah. Worst by far. Smells like burnt plastic and tastes like when you are roasting marshmallows and one falls in the fire, but your mom only lets you have two a night so you jab at the flaming ball and eat it, even though it’s a burnt black glob of goo. That’s what this tastes like.

So after we passed these around a few times, Steve broke the code and told us what we had just had

1. Glass # 1024 – Angostura 1824
2. Glass # 2036 – Mount Gay Extra Old Rum
3. Glass # 2044 – Cruzan Estate Diamond
4. Glass # 2006 – Cruzan Single Barrel
5. Glass # 2022 – Don Q Anejo

So after all was said and done Cruzan Single Barrel was the best, by far, that we tasted that day. I’m amazed how the Estate Diamond disappeared so quickly. I guess that’s one best left undiluted. Also, I love Mount Gay Extra Old, so I’m surprised I didn’t pick that out of the line up. The Angostura was negligible and the Don Q was just horrible. But man, that Single Barrel just stood up and rose to the occasion. It truly is a special Rum.

Original Cruzan bottles

This tour wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t run in to Steve late one night at a bar. We both ordered Cruzan light and soda, which got us talking. Steve is a good guy that is good at his job and loves what he helps produce. It seems like an overall company wide vibe at Cruzan. The girl at the guard gate is always polite and helpful, the guys rolling the barrels to the charcoal filtering line took the time to say hello and explain what they were doing, even the landscapers were cool and went out of their way to say hello and welcome us. Maybe it’s the sweet molasses flavor in the air, maybe it’s because it was a Friday, either way, it felt good to be there. (Which is a difficult thing to say about most experiences at businesses on St. Croix… K-Mart on Saturday morning, anyone? ) After meeting all these great people and seeing the care that goes in to producing this iconic rum, Cruzan didn’t seem so small anymore. Some days I’m proud to live on St. Croix more than others. This was one of those days.

70+ year old Government House Rum

All in all, we had a great time at Cruzan Rum. I strongly suggest that locals and tourists alike go check out the tour and support this local icon. And make sure when you get to the tasting pavilion; you don’t pass up the Single Barrel.

All that's left after I showed up