Rum's cousin

Distillates from sugar beet

Sugar beet as a basis for alcohol is nothing new. And yet Swiss distillers have only had the noble spirit made from molasses or sugar beet syrup on their radar for a few years, because rum is in vogue. But beware! The rum category is reserved only for distillates made from cane sugar.
©Swiss Sugar Ltd

Many distillates have a long historical heritage. Hundreds of years ago, distillates were already made from sugar cane, fruits and grains.

While in many cases the raw materials are still the same, the production methods have always adapted to the technical possibilities from decade to decade or century to century.

New categories of spirits have therefore been created more by a new distilling, blending or storage method (and its legal definition) than by the discovery of a completely new raw material suitable for the distillation of a noble spirit.

Sugar from mainland Europe

Sugar, which in the last millennium developed from a rarity to a luxury good to an everyday food, has a long history behind it. From Indonesia to India, sugar cane spread via the Orient, Cyprus, Madeira to the Caribbean and Latin America in the luggage of adventurers, conquistadors, colonialists and slave traders.

In the 19th century, however, the history of sugar branches out. After the French Revolution, the British imposed a blockade on French ports, whereupon Napoleon declared the Continental Blockade a few years later. The prices for colonial goods rise, but the Europeans do not want to give up their sugar.

The sugar content in the beet was already known at that time and so sugar beet was systematically cultivated and bred. But further decades passed before the sugar beet could become a serious competitor to the sugar cane. First, slavery had to be abolished and agriculture mechanised before "European sugar" became profitable.

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland - countries that had no colonies of their own (or only briefly in the case of Germany) - rum was for a long time much less widespread than in France or Great Britain.

In the Habsburg Monarchy in particular, people tried to keep themselves happy with so-called domestic rum, a mixture of neutral alcohol, at best a little highly aromatic Jamaican rum, spices and sugar. Fortunately, today only rum distilled from sugar cane juice, miel or molasses counts as rum.

Distilled from molasses, thick juice or mash?

Rum made from sugar beet - everyone can imagine something about it, but legally the case is clear: "Rum is a spirit drink obtained exclusively by alcoholic fermentation and distillation of molasses or syrup derived from the manufacture of cane sugar, or of the juice of the sugar cane itself, and distilled at less than 96% by volume in such a way that the distillate exhibits to a perceptible degree the special sensory characteristics of rum".

With distillates from sugar beet, Switzerland has a new niche category with potential.

An alternative name must therefore be chosen for a distillate made from sugar beet. Producers of such distillates may use product names such as "Roem el Primero", "the Rumour of Switzerland" or "AndersRum", but from a legal perspective they are not rum, which is why you often find the term distillate from sugar beet (molasses) on the label.

So it's not rum, and yet there are parallels that cannot be denied. As with its relative from sugar cane, distillates from sugar beet can also be made from different base materials. Röm el Primero by Zuckerrübenschnaps Krähenbühl, for example, is made from the mash of the sugar beet, which brings with it very earthy notes of raw rim.

The "Neutrum" from the same producer as well as Glen Fahrn's Last Barrel, on the other hand, is distilled from beet sugar syrup. At Urs Lüthy, Haldihof, Brennerei Schwab and also at Matte Brennerei, the distillate comes from molasses, the by-product of sugar production.

The molasses is sourced from the production facilities for Swiss sugar in Aarberg or Frauenfeld and still has a sugar content of around 40 per cent.

Schweizer Zucker AG is pleased about the interest shown by distillers, even though most of the molasses is now used as animal feed and as a substrate for yeast production. "In terms of volume, distillers are only of very minor importance as customers. But we are always on the lookout for new applications for molasses," says Guido Stäger, CEO of Schweizer Zucker AG.

However, the distilling of sugar beet molasses is nothing new and is also known outside Switzerland. "Molasses is used abroad for the production of industrial ethanol, especially as an additive to petrol. However, this is not profitable in Switzerland and is not subsidised by the state," Stäger continues.

And yet there are thoughts of distilling sugar beet molasses into pure drinking ethanol on a large scale in Switzerland as well. This summer, Schweizer Zucker AG submitted a building application for a corresponding plant, right next to the sugar factory in Aarberg, where 50 per cent of Swiss sugar is processed.

The project is currently still in its infancy - so it is not yet certain whether Switzerland will one day produce potable alcohol on a large scale for Switzerland's distilleries.

Because from Switzerland...

It is no coincidence that distillates made from beet sugar are increasingly being talked about again right now. Rum is in vogue, and at the same time the thirst for local specialities is growing. During the first Corona wave, some distillers distilled from sugar beet molasses for the first time.

However, most of this ended up as a disinfectant in our hands instead of in our drinking vessels. This is what happened to the team at Matte Distillery, who have just launched Summa Summarum, a sugar beet distillate flavoured with cocoa, tonka beans, cinnamon and vanilla.

A product that is oriented towards the category of spiced rum. While the disinfectant has long since been made from bought-in ethanol, the new product made from sugar beet molasses is intended to be a new product for connoisseurs.

Other distillates have their aroma more from the sugar beet itself or from ageing in wooden barrels. Especially the "Rom el Primero" with its intense beet aroma could give a cocktail a very special, earthy character, analogous to a mezcal or a peaty single malt. Other distillates are reminiscent of the Spanish rum style or are aimed more at the lover of pure distillates.

With distillates from sugar beet, Switzerland has a new niche category with potential. Some of the products on the market today taste fundamentally different and show the potential of this category.

This article appeared in
Issue 5-2020

BAR NEWS magazine as single issue

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