Rum is made by fermenting and distilling sugarcane products—mainly molasses, sugarcane juice, or sugarcane syrup—then often aging the distilled spirit in barrels.

Core ingredients

  • Sugarcane derivatives (molasses, fresh cane juice, or cane syrup) provide the fermentable sugars that become alcohol.
  • Yeast converts those sugars into alcohol, heat, and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
  • Water is used to dilute the sugarcane base, support fermentation, and later bring the rum down to bottling strength.

How rum is made

  • Sugarcane is crushed to extract juice, which is either used directly, boiled into syrup, or refined into sugar, leaving molasses as a by-product.
  • The chosen base (molasses, juice, or syrup) is mixed with water and yeast and left to ferment, creating a low-strength “wash” of alcoholic liquid.
  • This wash is distilled (in pot or column stills) to concentrate the alcohol and flavors into rum.

Aging and style

  • Many rums are aged in wooden casks (often ex-whiskey or bourbon barrels), which add color, vanilla, spice, and oak notes over time.
  • Some rum styles are bottled young and clear, while others are blended from different ages and then filtered or flavored to create distinct profiles.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.