Thursday, January 26, 2012

Pure Michigan Rum

I've had an idea tumbling around in my head for a while and I've decided to throw out into the aether in hopes that someone snatches it up. It is Michigan's birthday after all. OK so here's the idea:

Pure Michigan Rum

Now, I'm not talking about the Pure Michigan advertising campaign. I'm talking about rum made from purely from Michigan ingredients: sugar beet molasses, the finest fresh water in the world, and yeast. Now I know New Holland makes rum, but it's made from sugarcane molasses. Michigan doesn't produce sugarcane, but we do grow sugar beets. In fact, Michigan is the fourth largest produce of sugar beets in the US. Think about it: locally distilled rum made from local ingredients. Could someone please start working on this?

9 comments:

  1. I had the same thought. The sugars from Beets produce a lot of the "bad" alcohols, which makes a terrible tasting liquor. Unfortunately, a pure Michigan rum is not likely to take off.

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  2. Beets contain various salts that add odd flavors to the molasses which many consider unpalatable. There are a few European rum products produced from beets, the Czech made products really don't taste like rum at all. The Swede and Finn made beet rums are so heavily filtered that they are more like vodkas than rums. In the US there are some small distillers playing with the Brum (Beet Rum) idea but I am not aware of any current sustained production. The idea has fascinated me for several years, I would love to see a distillery industry formed around the sugar beet!

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    1. Hello, I live in Czech, and the liquor you speak about is made from potatoes, not sugar beets. Due to EU regulations, it can no longer be called rum, so they came up with the name "Tuzemák", which is a slang expression for "Domestic".

      It's basically high-proof distilled neutral spirit colored with caramel and synthetic flavors and aroma. Vile, unaged hooch that is better avoided.

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  3. Thanks for the info Thom. Let us know if you hear of any Michigan distilleries making brum.

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  4. You could probably make something like this, but by law, it cannot be called "Rum" unless it is made from Sugar Cane.

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  5. We are working on the idea of Rum from Michigan Sugar Beets, Mother Tucker Rum, Grosse Ile Michigan. We will keep you posted.

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