There’s By no means Been a Higher Time to Attempt Georgia-Made Rums

America was nonetheless an summary idea when the thirteenth colony, Georgia, was established in 1732 to honor King George II of England. Initially envisioned as a debtor’s colony, a ship carrying founder James Oglethorpe and 114 males, ladies, and kids landed close to modern-day Savannah. 

Oglethorpe was staunchly in opposition to alcohol consumption, however colonists and neighboring Indigenous tribes didn’t share his views. They had been keen on rum, to place it mildly. One e book estimates that particular person colonists drank almost 4 gallons yearly within the years that preceded the Revolutionary Conflict.

By 1735, “robust liquor” like rum was banned, the primary act of alcohol prohibition within the not-yet-formed nation. The ban was overturned a number of years later, however within the subsequent century, it might take maintain, county by county. The state’s ban on alcohol lasted from 1907 to 1935, however laws would make it tough to create rum and different spirits for a few years to return.

Subject-to-bottle sugarcane

Authorized challenges and agricultural adjustments lowered the distillation of rum or another spirit inside Georgia to virtually nil for half a century. Sugarcane, a significant crop within the coastal and southern elements of the state all through the 18th and nineteenth centuries, noticed a steep decline in manufacturing. As we speak, its manufacturing is properly behind that of Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. 

In 1999, Richland Rum was established within the namesake small city positioned in southwest Georgia. As founder Erik Vonk drove outdoors of Albany, he noticed a person on the aspect of the street cooking sugarcane juice in a big kettle. The juice continues to be offered throughout the state as a pure sweetener.

“That introduced all of it collectively, and I believed, ‘Sure, right here’s a chance. I wish to develop sugarcane and make rum,’” says Vonk.

Impressed by his grandfather’s love of rum, Vonk bought a sugarcane subject, one which now drives distilling operations in each Richland and Brunswick, Georgia, not removed from the unique colony website. Vonk labored with a sugarcane agronomist to pick out a range initially grown in Indonesia. 

“[I] obtained a variety of assist there in cultivation practices, but in addition in choosing the proper varieties for the local weather in southern Georgia,” says Vonk. 

Preliminary check batches proved underwhelming to Vonk, who additionally needed to cope with state and federal hurdles to acquire the best to start manufacturing. Vonk traveled to Martinique and Guadeloupe to review the longstanding rum traditions of the Caribbean. 

Vonk’s single-estate distillery has now been in operation for greater than 25 years. It has racked up a number of awards for unaged and aged expressions, and even created a bottling in collaboration with the late President Jimmy Carter. 

A rum revival

Richland isn’t the one distillery that’s helped revive Georgia’s rum tradition. In Atlanta, Impartial Distilling was established in 2014, whereas The Misplaced Druid, a brewery and distillery, opened its doorways in 2019. 

Impartial makes a copper pot-distilled white rum, in addition to a barrel-aged bottling made with table-grade molasses with lengthy fermentation and light-weight distillation. At The Misplaced Druid, the lineup consists of Kush Island, a sugarcane rum, and Spiced Rumburana, aged for six months and completed in Brazilian Amburana wooden that imparts a baking-spice taste.

Oak Home started operations in 2020 in Athens. It’s the primary authorized distillery within the metropolis because the 1860s. The distillery has two rums made with molasses and cane juice: the Oak Home gold and silver. The silver rum tailored a recipe from the 1600s, and the famed pirate Black Bart’s flag impressed the brand.  

Thomasville’s 1861 Distillery, positioned two hours south of Richland close to the Florida border, is called for the primary prepare that got here to city. 

“We’ve all the time been drawn to spirits with deep historic roots and robust regional ties, and rum has each,” says Jill Higgins, the distillery’s co-owner and advertising and marketing director. “It’s a spirit with a wealthy historical past, particularly in coastal areas.” 

The distillery is positioned close to one of many world’s purest limestone aquifers. And it sources sugarcane syrup from a neighborhood man they name “Mr. Ronny.” 

“[He] lives in Ochlocknee and he makes the sugarcane syrup there in his yard,” says Higgins. It’s this syrup that goes into the Caribbean-style white rum, spiced rum, and its barrel-aged providing, which matures in charred American oak barrels. 

“Utilizing sugarcane syrup as a substitute of molasses permits us to create a smoother, extra refined rum with a real expression of the sugarcane itself,” says Higgins. “In contrast to molasses, which is a byproduct of sugar refining, sugarcane syrup retains extra of the pure sweetness and character of the cane, leading to a cleaner, extra advanced taste within the closing spirit.”

Whether or not you get pleasure from it in a grog, because the colonial forefathers did, or to easily sip it on ice, there’s by no means been a greater time to attempt Georgia-made rums.