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DonQ Rum Visit to Puerto Rico

This summer I visited the Destileria Serralles Puerto Rico, the home of DonQ Rum.

DonQ is distilled in the southern part of Puerto Rico, in Ponce. The distillery has been on the same site since 1865. As with most rum distilleries, it was once the site of a sugar refinery and the distillery was a small part of the overall operation. Puerto Rico stopped producing sugar in the 1980s and the distillery became the important business.

As with distilleries in the United States, during Prohibition Destileria Serralles was closed. After Prohibition ended, they rebuilt the distillery, this time with column stills to replace the previous pot stills. One of those distillation columns from 1934 is still in use today.

Making Rum

The molasses for DonQ is purchased on the open market; the low-sugar stuff from the Dominican Republic or thereabouts, and the high-test sugar-rich stuff from Gautemala. (I learned only recently that with improving technology and higher prices for sugar, they are stripping more sugar out of molasses so they need to suplement lower-quality molasses with special high-sugar stuff so that there is enough sugar in the liquid to ferment.)

The molasses is shipped into the port of Ponce and then transported to the distillery, where it is pasteurized to prevent any spontaneous fermentation.

It is then fermented in stainless steel fermenters with their own strain of yeast until it reaches 8-10 percent alcohol by volume. They distill two rums that are later blended; a "light" and "heavy" version. The lighter version ferments for a lesser time than the heavy.

The heavy rum is distilled in the original beer column (the first column of a multi-column still) from 1934. It looks just as old as it is. 

The light rum is distilled in the newer, multi-column stills.

After distillation, the rum is aged. The barrels used at DonQ are used twice before they buy them: the first time by the bourbon industry (as with most rums, tequilas, and scotch because barrels can only be used ounce for bourbon by law), but also another time for "light whiskey" which I take to mean blended whiskey like Seagram's.

Thus there should be less wood influence from these barrels than on other products. Furthermore, they reuse them about 20 times and never rechar them.

The rums are aged at a few different proofs, aged separately as light or heavy-style rums, and some is aged as a "medium" rum; a blend of the two. There are also some solera-aged rums in ex-sherry barrels, which are added to some of the blends.

Sustainability Practices

Roberto Serralles is a sixth-gernation Serralles family member who holds a PhD in environmental sciences. He is responsible for making this distillery more eco-friendly with the goal of making it waste-free. If given the chance to see him speak, I highly recommend it because he is engaging, authentic, enthusiastic, and making a real difference. Some of the innovations he has helped develop are already being copied by other distilleries. 

The DonQ website has a great overview of the sustainability practices in place, though from what we learned on-site many of these are evolving from how they are described there.

The carbon dioxide released during the fermentation process used to be captured and sold to use to carbonate sodas, but a change in legal regulations has made this undoable in the short term.

The distilled molasses "beer" is only 8-10 percent alcohol, then is distilled up to 75 - 90 percent. That leaves a lot of excess water with organic material leftover - during the height of their production 350,000 gallons of wastewater per day. 

The goal is to separate out the organic matter from the water so that you can reuse the water. First they use anaerobic digesters, in which bacteria eat the organic matter and release biogass. (I want to write a book about distillery waste and call it "Everybody Farts".) This biogass is burned to produce heat at the distillery and reduces the distillery's oil consumption by about 50 percent.

The next stage is aerobic decomposition, which further reduces the organic matter and produces brownish water. They used water this for irrigation, but as I understand it the water isn't ideal, so they are replacing this system with a new membrane filtration system that Roberto Serralles was pretty proud of.

That and other systems are in development, but some of the development has been delayed due to a significant business change. You'll learn why in tomorrow's post.

Sugarcane and the Environment

For the most part rum is made from molasses, the byproduct of sugar production. So when we study the issue of the environmental impact of sugarcane production we need to keep in mind that molasses is the waste product of sugar production. Rum is recycling!

That said, we're studying not just sugar but sugarcane production so let's look at its impact. Most of this information comes from Sugar: A Bittersweet History by Elizabeth Abbott (2008). See the references page for more information.

In Cuba where they couldn’t purchase pesticides and fertilizers due to economic issues, they made their own version of organic sugar farming. 

Sugar beets are a rotational crop so they don’t need much fertilizer or pesticide. It doesn’t cause much erosion or contamination. 

The sugar industry ruined the Everglades. It was protected by President Harry Truman, but sugar planters drained it and plantations' phosphorous runoff hurt much of the topsoil. 

Abbott writes about sugar's impact: “The World Wildlife Fun reports, cane has likely ‘caused a greater loss of biodiversity on the planet than any other single crop, due to its destruction of habitat to make way for plantations, its intensive use of water for irrigation, its heavy use of agricultural chemicals, and the polluted waste-water than is routinely discharged in the sugar production process.’”

 On the other hand, “Although Brazilian cane production is notoriously destructive to the environment, cane-derived fuel is precisely the opposite. It is much cleaner than fossil fuels and contains no contaminants such as sulfur dioxide. It emits much less carbon dioxide and protects the climate by vastly reducing carbon emissions, hence reducing pollution. It is sustainable. It yield 8.3 ties as much energy as as that expended to make it and, as new cane varieties are developed, will yield even more. Even its by-products are valuable, and Brazilian mills process them into electricity for their own use and to sell to the national grid.... Cane-based ethanol is the Twenty-First Century’s miracle-in-waiting.”

 

The Sugar Spirit Project is sponsored by Bacardi Rum. Content created and owned by Camper English for Alcademics. For the project index, click on the logo above or follow this link. 

GMO-Free Liquor? Not As Far As You Know

So the TTB released the little bombshell below. Basically, you can't put "GMO-free" or something similar on an alcoholic beverage label, even if the product is.

For the most part if you're drinking anything made from corn in the US (all bourbon, some vodkas) you're drinking genetically modified corn. Spirits from other crops too. In many (most? all?) export markets, however, you can't use this. Thus many (all?) bourbons make a GMO-free version for export.

Because most of Four Roses bourbon is sold in Japan, however, their product is GMO-free, even in the US. However, distiller Jim Rutledge said he didn't think there would be enough GMO-free corn left in a few years so things might change. 

Now, does anything from the GMO crop pass through distillation? I don't know; I'd guess probably not. But people may want to support non-GMO farming. It's the same with organic booze - you probably can't taste the difference, but you're putting your support behind organic farming. 

News From TTB
Sep 1st
WHAT IS TTB'S POSITION REGARDING THE LABELING STATEMENTS ABOUT ALCOHOL BEVERAGE PRODUCTS THAT ARE NOT BIOENGINEERED OR THAT DO NOT CONTAIN INGREDIENTS PRODUCED FROM BIOENGINEERED FOOD? (FOR EXAMPLE, "CONTAINS NO GMOs," "GMO FREE-ZONE," OR A SIMILAR REFERENCES ON ALCOHOL BEVERAGES.)

TTB has received several Certificates of Label Approval (COLA) applications proposing to display bioengineered-related information on alcohol beverage labels. Terms frequently mentioned in discussions about labeling alcohol beverages with respect to bioengineering include "GMO free" and "GM free." "GMO" is an acronym for "genetically modified organism" and "GM" means "genetically modified." The terms "genetically modified organism" and "genetically modified" are not synonymous with the term "bioengineered foods." Plants can be genetically modified using any number of techniques, new or traditional.

TTB believes it is not necessary to mandate any bioengineered food labeling requirements at this time. We also find that it is misleading to refer voluntarily to those bioengineered food labeling terms or any similar references on alcohol beverage labels. This is consistent with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's position. (See Draft Guidance: Voluntary Labeling Indicating Whether Foods Have or Have Not Been Developed Using Bioengineering-January 2001 at FDA.gov.)

TTB will continue to monitor the domestic and international impact of the use of bioengineered foods on the labeling of alcohol beverages, as well as any international trade barriers that occur because of the mixed reactions surrounding the use and potential use of bioengineered foods.

Interestingly, they say their guidelines are in agreement with FDA labelling rules for food, but I seem to recall seeing non-GMO written on food labels. Am I wrong? According to this story, there is a "Non GMO-Project Verified" label available. 

They also say that it could be misleading to refer to these terms on the label, and I could certainly see that. For example, if your rye whiskey was labelled as "from GMO-free rye" yet the corn in the mashbill were GMO-rich Monsanto corn, that would certainly be misleading.  

On the other hand, if you buy certified organic foods, they should not contain GMO ingredients. Here's a good story on the labelling issues with GMO foods and the potential or negligible health risks. Of course the health risk to the planet is another issue that could be taken into consideration. 

Scott Beattie Back Behind the Stick at Spoonbar at H2Hotel in Healdsburg

Opening July 1 in Healdsburg, CA will be the H2Hotel, the sister property to the Hotel Healdsburg. At the adjoining casual restaurant Spoonbar, the one and only Scott Beattie will be back behind the bar four nights each week. 

Beattie worked in several San Francisco bars, but really made his name at Cyrus, also in Healdsburg, and published a book of drink recipes from the bar called Artisinal Cocktails.  His drinks are typically in the California style; calling for fresh, seasonal, sometimes personally-grown ingredients. 

I got a sneak peek of the new menu for Spoonbar and it is very much in Beattie's style. There are pages of text explaining the program and a long spirits list dividing each spirit type into local, organic, traditionally produced, and other terms of least-to-most ecological impact.

The initial menu (all of this is tentative, by the way) features summer cocktails available by the pitcher or glass, including the Margarita, Mai Tai, and Mojito. The Classic and Original Cocktails section is divided in two: Tart and Refreshing, and Spirit-Driven and Intensely Flavored.

The Tart and Refreshing cocktails include classics like the Clover Club, Last Word, and Pisco Sour, along with newbies like the Pedestrian (Hangar One Mandarin, lime, sudachi, ginger, grenadine) and Smoky Paloma (tequila, mezcal, grapefruit vodka, lime, grapefruit, sugar).

The Improved Classic Cocktails section is three takes each on the classic cocktails Manhattan, Sazerac, Negroni, and Old-Fashioned. For each drink Beattie offers a classic version and two adaptations, such as a Negroni called the Handlebar made with bourbon, Noilly Prat vermouth, Campari, and lemon zest, and the Tempus Fugit made with Martin Miller Westbourne gin, Carpano Antica vermouth, Gran Classico (from Tempus Fugit spirits), and orange zest.

All in all there are a ton of cocktails from which to choose and Beattie behind the bar to make them. Word.

This Arbor Day, Plant Your Butt on a Barstool

Earth Day is April 22 and Arbor Day is April 30th: What are you doing to celebrate? You could run out and plant a tree but that would be messy and dirt would be involved. Gross.

Luckily several booze brands make it easy for you to do almost nothing while getting the full bragging rights of eco-activism. That's so American!

Here are some ways you can help the earth while harming your liver:

VeeV acai liqueur hosts the Treetini website, where you can learn locations of bars in which to order a Treetini- made with Veev, natch. For every drink you buy, they'll plant a tree. But don't have more than 10,000 of them this April, because that's the limit!

There's a Chilean wine called  Root:1 that is sponsoring a “Together We Can Plant a Forest” program. Luckily you don't have to go meet all the filthy riffraff planting the forest. Instead you buy a bottle of their wine, and they throw a buck (up to $10,000) to the Global ReLeaf fund.

 Tru Vodka doesn't need no stinking Arbor Day to plant trees. They've done a tree for every bottle since they launched- about 60,000 trees so far. 

The well named PlantATree Wine plants a tree for each bottle of wine you buy. This may be only available in Canada, where they seem to have plenty of trees already.

Trinity Oaks (from California) has a different name but a similar program, planting a tree for each bottle. They claim over 2 million trees planted already.

One Hope Wine actually has several different hopes, depending on the wine. Merlot purchases go to fight Aids, Chardonnay money goes toward battling breast cancer, Cabernet fights Autism, Zinfandel supports troops, and each bottle of sauvignon blanc sold gets a tree planted. My hope is that they have a good accountant to keep it all straight.

Purus Vodka's website looks kind of broken but on it they make the very abstract promise that, "One precious sapling will be planted and nurtured somewhere in America for each person who registers on this website."

Bartenders Hitting Their Hoes

For some reason, the San Francisco Chronicle didn't choose the above title for my story that comes out Sunday August 30th. I can't think of why.

More bars growing own cocktail ingredients

Camper English, Special to The Chronicle

Friday, August 28, 2009

 Victoria D'Amato-Moran grows tomatoes, Asian pears, Fuji apples, blackberries, roses and many herbs in her South San Francisco garden. Sooner or later, everything in it winds up in her cocktails.

"Except the zucchinis," she says. "I haven't figured out how to use those yet."

The Bay Area has long been home to the farm-forward cocktail movement - initially personified by Scott Beattie, then of Cyrus restaurant, who sourced produce from neighbors' fruit trees for his bar. Lately, more bartenders are doing the gardening work themselves, for the same reason that backyard gardeners seem to have appeared everywhere.

The extra effort may not save money, and the drinks may not taste noticeably fresher to the customer, but you can bet they do to the proud garden tender who grew part of your gimlet from seed.

Read the rest of my story in this Sunday's Chronicle about bartenders who also tend to gardens, including Duggan McDonnell, H. Joseph Ehrmann, Daniel Hyatt, Scott Stewart, Thad Vogler, and Lane Ford, and the bars Fairway Cocktail Lounge, Cyrus, Elixir, Alembic, Cantina, Fifth Floor, Bar Agricole, Starbelly, Sprcue, Brix, and Etoile. Gosh I'm thorough.

Also: there's a recipe for Jacques Bezuidenhout's Sagerac, a version of the Sazerac made with fresh picked sage, and Scott Stewart's Lonsdale No. 3 made with fresh basil.

New Organic Vodkas

The organic vodkas continue to hit store shelves. Hopefully this trend will continue to the point at which the organic part won't be the selling point anymore, and you'll have the option of organic spirits or regular in everything, just like at the grocery store.

Recently I found three new organic vodkas in my mouth:

Blue Ice Organic: Though their other (tasty, bargain) vodka is made from non-organic Idaho potatoes, the new Blue Ice Organic is "made from 100%, locally harvested, organic winter wheat and pristine Idaho water."

Shadow Spirits Organic Vodka: I found this at the American Distilling Institute conference and tasting. This brand hails from Santa Cruz and is so far mostly sold locally. The vodka is made from organic Idaho corn and rye with added spirit made from organic Pinot Noir grapes from the Williamette Valley. The bottle label also lists organic tapioca as an ingredient. I asked brand owner Ann Barnett about it. She says, "The tapioca syrup gives the vodka a subtle sweetness and creates a rounder more full mouthfeel in the product."

Organic Nation Vodka is made from "only the finest certified 100% organic American Rye, Wheat and Corn." It also won a silver medal in packaging at the SF Spirits Competition this year. The gin packaging is even better.

Glossy Booze: Early June Edition

Glossy Booze is a round-up of cocktails and spirits stories in magazines.

GQ (June) has a story on how to brew your own iced coffee, plus a recommendation for the Sodastream home carbonator.

Men's Fitness (June/July) mentions Le Tournment Vert absinthe.

In Playboy (June) they tell you how to make a Blue Blazer, recommend some summer brews, and have a story on rum with a few recipes.

SOMA magazine (Spring 2009) more or less repeats the press release on Rubyy blood orange energy drink.

Esquire (June) offers a package called The Collected Wisdom of Esquire as it Relates to Drinking, in which David Wondrich deconstructs the Old-Fashioned and then there's some chatter. Plus they updated the Best Bars in America list for 2009. San Francisco additions this year are The Alembic and Tommy's Mexican.

Bon Appetit (June) lists the recipe for the Grapefruit Gimlet, Campari and Soda, recommends some Spanish cavas, and has a story about kitchen wine cellars.

Food and Wine (June) has a picture of Rosangel tequila with completely the wrong colored liquid in the bottle, has the "Combier Margarita" which is just a Margarita with product placement, recommends round ice cube trays, does a nice piece on the brew scene in San Diego, lists 10 recommended summer white wines, gives a recipe for Dushan Zaric's Port and Tonic, and lists wines to pair with grilled food.

Sunset (May) has new wine bars selling half-bottles, and a list of western white wines for under $15.

In 7X7, Jordan Mackay asks local sommeliers to pick an expensive wine and a bargain wine that tastes similar to it from their lists. He also has Daniel Hyatt's recipe for the Promissory Note.

Men's Journal (June) has a few gift whiskies for Father's Day (Aberlour 12, Glenrothes 1991, Laphroaig 25) plus a story on organic alcohol brands.