How we craft our Fiji rum 

Our Fiji rums are made by hand in our distillery in Pacific Harbour. Rum is a simple yet complex process, every step can influence the end result and having a clear picture of what your rum needs to be is paramount in the multiple steps to creating a world class rum.

The first step in rum production is fermentation, the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohol. Our base is the deep, dark molasses which is the by product of sugar production.

Fermentation and the end product is deeply influenced by the type of yeast that is used, the ph of the wash and the temperature that the ferments sit at. Our ferments vary depending on what rum we are making, as a general rule the more acidic ferments will give you a more complex end product, and the less acidic a cleaner less nuanced product. Temperature plays a part in how our living breathing yeast work, over excited too hot yeast can produce off flavours, and yeast that is too cool may take to long to process and indeed go dormant. Fermentation is science and art combined.

Density is a key tool in distillation, it not only gives us an end result on ABV but allows us to calculate when a ferment is finished and how much alcohol has been produced. Molasses washes are tricky as they contain unfermentable sugars, and other solids that make other methods of calculation inoperable. Once our ferment has gone dry the yeast is siphoned from the bottom cone of the fermenter and  the wash is sent to the stills.

At its heart distillation is just about separation and when making rum the ‘method of separation again deeply influences the end product.

Classically rum was a very strong, very lightly separated badly distilled spirit. One of the earliest references comes from Richard Ligon’s A True & Exact History of the Island of Barbados (1657), where he describes the crude rum (then called “kill-devil”) as: “The drink of the Island, which is made of the skimmings of the Coppers… is called Kill-Devil; and this is of a hot, hellish, and terrible quality.”

All rums are clear when they come off the stills and these early rums would have been straight from the stills and not barreled. The Royal Navy began officially issuing rum rations to sailors in 1655 (after capturing Jamaica), but it was initially unaged and harsh—often mixed with water to make grog.The first clear reference to intentional aging comes from naval records and merchant accounts in the 1730s–1740s, noting that rum stored in oak casks during long sea voyages became smoother and more palatable.A 1740 naval order suggested that rum should be “stored in oak for better keeping”, implying that sailors (and merchants) had noticed the benefits of barrel maturation.

In our distillery we have three stills and 5 columns which allows us to have very precise control of the Fiji rum we are producing. Classically rum was produced, and still is, on a pot still with little reflux, it is just about as simple as a saucepan. The science that makes it work is the different boiling points of methanol, ethanol, water, propanol, and acids and their behavior. In simple terms, methanol has a lower boiling point than ethanol so can be safely removed at the beginning of a distillation, ethanol sits neatly in the middle at 78.37 degrees C-  though the extraction boiling points are different due to azeotrope. At the end of the run as temperatures rise and towards the 100 degrees propanol will start to enter the distillate. Its not quite that simple as there are a multitude of other factors but it’s a good guide as to why and how we can separate what we want. We distill each style of Fiji rum differently to create the  expressions we want.

After the spirit exits the still it is proofed to the appropriate ABV and our white rum is then rested for a period before being bottled. We do not barrel the white rum as our fermentation and distillation techniques create a clean crisp rum but still with hints of caramel and cane. Our unique process has been validated where our Fiji rum KaloKalo Pure White Rum has been awarded the highest points of any Fiji white rum in the last 2 years at the London Spirit Awards

The dark rum is proofed down to 65% ABV and then sent to barrels. It is the interaction of the spirit and the wood that add the colour and complexity to our dark rums. 

To create a new Fiji dark rum has been a very exciting journey and it is one you cannot rush, we have tested and tested before finalizing our process and waiting for the rum to mature takes patience. We plan to release another white rum expression shortly will execute two expressions of the dark rum, a dry light caramel sipping rum, and a heavier bodied molasses forward rum for cocktails. We are very excited for the next chapter of Fiji rum.