IT'S A RUM WORLD

you've got it gentlemen I give you the treasurer of the Caribbean wrong can we tell them tell them it is no longer a secret when rum was first brought to England in the 17th century it was the secret of a privileged few only they knew the real treasure of the Caribbean the liquid gold of the tropics rum Jamaica a jewel of an island Spanish traders came here and planted cane sugar but left it to others to turn it into rum the drink which captures the passionate spirit of the Caribbean to this day [Music] [Music] [Music] Jamaicans know all about Romney but the man who knows more than most is actor Keith foot proprietor of the little pub and acknowledged as the islands champion mixer of rum punches a little a little magic and there's a drink to remember [Music] the sugar estate in Jamaica one of the plantations from which united rum merchants draw the basic ingredient for fine Jamaica runs here rotated crops of sugarcane are harvested twice a year cut and brought to the factory where it's rich molasses syrup is used to produce rum with a distinctive Jamaican flavor a certain something that comes from the soil the sunshine the atmosphere and Jamaica's own production techniques these are called pot stills a substantial quantity of Jamaican rum is produced even today by this traditional pot still process and testing the caramel made from burnt sugar by adding it to the strong spirit is another skill which relies on generations of accumulated knowledge important ingredients in the production of lemon heart the truly Jamaican Jamaica Rum equally distinctive but different is black heart rum and the difference is about a thousand miles Guyana where the Demerara river flows into the ocean and gives its name to Demerara sugar it's a land of dykes houses on stilts which owes much to early Dutch settlement here in South America and this is I flagged one of the distilleries in Guyana from which united rum obtained s FIDIC it's surrounded by Demerara sugar plantation on 24 square miles of land all reclaimed from the sea here the sugar fields are prepared for new planting every four years [Music] the newly plowed land is sprayed with fertilizer before the new canes are planted and planting is simplicity itself lengths of budding cane about 18 inches long called sets are buried in the rich fertile earth and take root [Applause] finally it's dusted over with insecticide all it needs now is sunshine and large amounts of water brought by canals which serve both for irrigation and later for transportation the result Demerara sugar ripe and ready for harvest firing the cane burns off excess leaves this has to be done when the leaves are dry so that they burn quickly and easily without damaging the king each field is about a thousand yards long but takes little more than 20 minutes to burn when the fires died down the cane is ready for cutting work for razor-sharp cutlasses and expert hands the cutters work in teams along with loaders who pile the cut cane into canal barges they work hard and fast since they are paid by the weight of cane they send to the factory but one of the few things that can slow them down is cricket it only needs one of the periodic visits from the Australian test team and the sugar harvest is stumped by the excitement of a test match there's no cricket on Monday so I think that we may well have to close down for the weekend due to the cricket so it looks very much if we'll have to give the boys a holiday for sure gone uncle cricket then we carry on with sugar afterwards okay but when the harvest is in full swing they use oxen to bring the barges from the small canals to the main channels where tractors take over and streams of barges converge on the factory where the cane will be processed here the plantation barges are joined by others bringing cane from smaller independently owned sugar fields for the keep pace with demand the intake of sugarcane is almost continuous cricket or not [Music] [Applause] every barge is numbered so that its load can be waved and recording the barge number and the load are recorded automatically and payment made to the cutting routines either from the plantation all the independent producers [Applause] from the Weybridge the sugarcane is tipped on a chute onto milling machines below here the cane is crushed and the juice extracted the pope that remains being used to fuel the factory furnaces but the important part is this unrefined juice after the juice is extracted it's pumped to evaporating pans where the sugar crystals are formed they remain in the uncrystallized residue molasses until the mixture is passed through centrifugal separators here the sugar crystals are separated from the molasses which only now begins the process which will convert its residual sugars into alcohol for subsequent distillation interrupts and this is the thick rich sweet liquid which forms the basis of rum as we know it [Applause] molasses is brought to the distillery from surrounding factories either by Road tanker or by barge although at afflict where the distillery was built alongside the factory it's fed along pipelines to John storage tanks there are six tanks here each holding up to a hundred and twenty thousand gallons the delicate process of converting raw molasses into pure rum begins here in the laboratory where chemists and a precise amount of yeast - exactly a hundred cc's of purified molasses now called wash a mixture of molasses and water calculated to provide the ideal environment in which yeast cells may flourish and so convert the sugar in the wash into alcohol after eight hours this yeast enriched wash is added to a further 500 CCS to continue fermenting another eight hours and the second batch is now added to one gallon of wash at the end of the further eight hours the fermenting wash is mixed with another 22 gallons it's a continuing process keeping pace exactly with the fermentation 50 more gallons are added then 500 gallons mm and finally this is introduced into 11,000 gallons now vigorously fermenting and it all began with a single yeast cell after fermentation the washes pump to steam heat it stills where modern distillation techniques will allow the distiller to produce a variety of types of rum each type will have a slightly different count of the vital flavor giving properties that distinguish rum from other spirits part of the distilling process at I flight is remote control but testing the spirit for purity is best done by experienced men their job is to see to it that the spirit which leaves the distillery is of a uniformly high quality fit for the world's best runs Lan's Navy is one of them the toast of the Aussies after their test victory in Guyana but long before it gets into the bottle the spirit has to be shipped to United rum merchants maturing and blending plans in Britain at the distillery its piped into 42 gallon casks specially made from American oak they take only about two minutes to fill and from here they are rolled out ready to be taken to the docks [Music] George tongue capital of Guyana is the gateway of the Demerara rum trade the ships that leave here follow the same trade routes by which rum was first brought to England under sail nearly 300 years ago in those days the journey took weeks and the cargo was a few precious barrels today modern ships make the voyage within days and carry up to 5,000 barrels each but modern handling techniques move towards increasing use of bulk container tanks varying in size from 500 to 5,000 gallon capacity and this lovely corner of Britain is the end of the journey the united rum merchants plant at Dumbarton scotland where the rum is stored and matured the duty paid value of each barrel of rum is just under 1,000 thanks there are some 15,000 barrels in this warehouse and this is only one of many warehouses all packed with pure spirit maturing developing improving [Applause] on arrival however every barrel is opened this is the final quality control test before the spirit is left to mature in bond a small quantity is taken from each cask with an instrument known in the trade as a flange small bottles of spirits are labeled and taken to the sample department where they await the attention of United rums chief Blender bill Jeff and this is the man who actually determines the rum you drink and enjoy his job is to pass judgment on each sample and to decide which shall be blended together to produce just the right taste he does it all by nose but behind that quick sniff is 30 years experience once the rum has matured its blended according to mr. Jeff's selection the chosen barrels hundreds of them are pumped into 10,000 gallon vending vets and mixed for 24 hours before being put back into casks for further maturation and finally diluted to an exact Proof level then on its way to the bottling plant all the rum is refrigerated this is done to ensure that united rum products remain stable throughout their shelf life and now at last the blended rum the product of many combined skills is bottle the rum is inspected for color and clarity this is a demanding job and the girls work in relays for only 15 minutes at a time [Applause] and so the whole castle highly-skilled process of rum making is complete and all that needs to be added are the labels famous names that have become synonymous with all that is best in rum still favorites among rum drinkers are names like lambs Navy a fine traditional rum black heart dark full-bodied and lemon heart golden rum from Jamaica blended for today's taste from United run merchants plant they are sent all over the world wherever people have taste demand the finest which is not to say that these rum makers are content to rely on traditional own new blends like this more subtle white rum Santi go have been developed to keep pace with the modern demand for something new something different something refreshing [Music] when rum was first shipped to England in the 17th century owner the privilege could enjoyed today anyone can savor the delicious taste of San Tico with orange juice the current or just plain water perhaps with coke maybe with tonic water or if you prefer with bitter lemon [Music] whatever your taste there's a rum to match the moment whether you're ashore or afloat there's a lot to be said for rum you can mix it with anything drink it with anyone and enjoy it anywhere [Music] and for that matter you can drink it whenever you like add a few cubes of ice and it'll cool and refresh you in the midday Sun lemon heart black heart Santiago or Lambs Navy they all the way to your pleasure add hot water and rum with a punch will warm a winter evening there are no rules about rum that's one of the nice things about it others are its clean taste its versatility its sheer conviviality try some try your luck try rum there's no longer any secret about it it's a winner [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]