Distilling Rum

While it’s possible to run a distillery by majority computer, we prefer to distill and age rum using both science and art. We batch distill in a 500 gallon steam jacketed, custom pot still. Our pot still is 100% copper and includes a custom fabricated lentil. We batch distill and make our rum at altitude because these practices add so much to the final product—elements that are hard (if not impossible!) to program into a machine. And really, there’s just something fulfilling about a human-driven process. It adds art and creativity to the science. 

Fermentation

We start by fermenting pure sugar cane from family growers and a family-owned mill in Louisiana. (We’re lucky enough to know these farmers personally, and many of them have worked their land for generations.) The sugar cane, water and yeast ferment for four to five days, at which point there's almost no sugar left: just alcohol and water. (Want a by the numbers look at the process? Check out this blog post.)

Distillation

Following fermentation, the “wash” goes into our pot still. ( handmade by Bridgetown Brew Systems in Oregon). The alchemy begins as our distiller heats the wash to separate the alcohols  from the water (alcohol is lighter than water and has a lower boiling point, so it boils off first).

The alcohol vapors travel up through the pot, through the lentil, across what is called the swan's neck and into a shell & tube condenser before coming out as rum. It's almost that simple!

The complexity comes into the process because the liquid that comes out of the still has several hundred different alcohol compounds, each with a distinct flavor and boiling point. We carefully monitor what comes out of the still, keeping what tastes great for our barrels, collecting the heads for cleaning at our distillery and we recycle the tails in the next batch to further extract those flavors that make our rum so unique—a process called making cuts. The copper of the still even plays an important role in improving the flavor as it helps to remove sulfides from the distillate.

Aging and Bottling

After we collect the best part of the rum, we put it into an American White Oak barrel that previously held Laws Colorado Whiskey for 2-5 years. We age the rum until it's mature and smooth. Our limited-edition Exclusiva is also put into a finishing French Oak barrel which previously held Cabernet Sauvignon and Port from local wineries in our valley. Our limited-edition Valentia is finished in a rye whiskey barrel after it finishes aging for 4 years in the Laws Colorado Whiskey barrel.

We bottle Montanya Rums using pure mountain water from a snowmelt and spring-charged aquifer near the Bottling Facility. This water is free from heavy metals yet contains minerals that add so much to the flavor—a unique ingredient that accounts for 60% of every bottle.

The Benefits of Altitude

Our home in Crested Butte is nearly 9,000 feet above sea level. The altitude affects our rums, and for the better. The wash in our stills boils at a lower temperature than at other rum distilleries. This may be part of the formula that makes our rums unique.

And aging in barrels at elevation also adds character: the natural temperature fluctuations in our barrel room cause the rum to move more frequently in and out of the oak. The resulting rums are smoother and offer more complex flavors as a result. (Want to know more? Check out this blog post on distilling at altitude.)