Puerto Rico just so happens to be the rum capital of the world, having produced the sugarcane – derived liquor for more than 450 years. Available in many tasty varieties including light, gold, dark, and flavored, all local rums, by law, must age for a one-year minimum.
Rum producing has long been an important part of Puerto Rico’s economy. While Puerto Rican church groups have sometimes opposed the massive production and consequent consumption of this alcohol in Puerto Rico, sugar cane farms around the country still produce large amounts of rum every year. In Spanish, rum is known as ron. A partial list of Puerto Rican rums:
* Bacardi
* Captain Morgan
* Palo Viejo
* Don Q
* Licor 43
* Licor 86
* Ron Llave
* Castillo
* Ron del Barrilito
* El Barrilito
In addition to those brands, there is also an illegal kind of rum produced in Puerto Rico, nicknamed on the streets the Cañita or Pitorro (sugar cane) rum. Authorities confiscate many Cañita / Pitorro rum productions every year.
Puerto Rico was home to one of great figures in rum making, Rafael Arroyo, who in 1936 had embarked on the first serious scientific study of rum production. Arroyo’s investigations were interrupted during World War II, but afterward his studies became more relevant than ever and are still regarded as essential reading for rum distillers. In 1953, the Planta Piloto de Ron (Rum Pilot Plant) was founded, its brief to investigate every aspect of rum-making and pass on the information, free, to any distiller who wanted to use it – whether based in Puerto Rico or not. The result: the creation of the lighter-bodied style of rum that still dominates the world. Today, Puerto Rico produces 35 million proof gallons of rum a year, the bulk of which is exported to America.
