Distiller magazine

66 distiller harvesting at the Copal Tree Distillery, instead of the common practice of 12–24 hours. e white rum uses a combination of 75% column stills and 25% pot stills, then rests in stainless steel for six months. is combination results in a very approachable rum but packed with flavors such as fruit notes with a hint of grassiness. It is a great introduction to those who are new to big funky and grassy characters such as rhum agricole and clairin. On the flip side, the barrel-rested rum is 100% pot still and then rests in an ex-bourbon cask. It is packed with flavor! While the white rum is very cocktail friendly, it may not stand out in drinks that call for strong and intense flavor. is is where a 100% pot still rum, whether aged or unaged, comes into play. Another common practice for white rum is charcoal filtra- tion, which is used for removing harsh flavors to smooth out rum. However, the more you process your distillation, the less character is left in the bottle. Because Copalli rum is using all of the purest ingredients, they have decided not to bother with this process at all. Copalli takes a zero-impact production practice, not an easy task. ere are many areas of production to cover, and being thoughtful about each stage has required Copalli to spend four years designing solutions, which they continue to improve on. First, Copalli Rum is organic certified. Organic certification is a process that requires detailed tracking of ingredients and processes. A field needs to have been free of chemical fertilizers and pest control for 5 years to begin the certification process. Once that basic requirement has been met, a distillery needs to document every step, from the organic fertilizer used, the harvest, transportation by the distillery, crushing, fermenting, distilling, blending and bottling. You need to be prepared to identify what field a particular bottle of rum was sourced from. Even cleaning the equipment is described and recorded. Once all these processes and procedures are in place, an inspector will come and do an on-site evaluation. If you pass the inspec- tion, then you will be issued a certificate as an organic producer. Re-inspection occurs every year to keep your certification. For Copal Tree, the process isn't that onerous because they only use organic products and tracking the process from field to bottle is just good distillery practice. A typical distillery needs two sources of energy to operate: thermal and electrical. At Copal Tree, thermal energy comes from the biomass steam boiler and is fueled by the cane fibers after the juice has been exacted. is steam energy is used for running the stills, making hot water for cleaning and sanitizing tanks and even as the energy source for the cooling system that regulates the temperature of the fermentation tanks. e elec- trical energy runs the pumps, lights, computers and other elec- trical components. When not enough, Copal Tree Distillery does have to purchase additional energy from the electrical utility as the distillery is still very young. ey hope to be able to make their own electricity in the future as they grow. "At Copalli, every sugarcane is cut by hand during the har- vest season instead of the more common practice of using cane Ed Tiedge, master distiller and president at Copal Tree Distillery The white rum uses a combination of 75% column stills and 25% pot stills, then rests in stainless steel for six months. This combination results in a very approachable rum but packed with flavors such as fruit notes with a hint of grassiness.

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