Chill (and other) filtration in rum manufacturing
Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 4:19 pm
Many whisky aficionados of today swear by products which have received very little filtration and are as close to "straight from the barrel" as possible. The "least liked" filtration method of today must be chill filtration - a method in which the alcoholic substance is cooled down in temperature close to = degrees Celsius (32 f) and then pressed through mechanical filters which remove a lot of the fatty solids that have formed as the liquid has been cooled down.
This age-old process, first discussed & described around WWI in the English medical publication the Lancet, I believe, was once an industry standard practice and made sure that when adding ice cubes to whisky the drink would remain clear and not "haze up". The most common story goes to blame our American colleagues for this practice; they enjoyed a little ice in their drinks, and upon seeing the whisky go all hazy, thought it was spoiled, sending it back to the manufacturer, asking for a refund. Whether this is true or not remains a mystery to me at least, but the fact is that all blended whisky was chill-filtered and so was the vast majority of single malts. It wasn't until 1990's that we saw whiskies that were not chill filtered. Nowadays many whiskies make a point of emphasizing the non-chill filtration factor in their advertising, as well as in bottling their product at 46% (supposedly the lowest alcohol content percentage in which the water added at bottling stage does not make the whisky go hazy) instead of standard 40% or 43%. Full cask strength products are also increasingly common.
Another filtration method used for example in American whiskey is (maple) charcoal filtration. Jack Daniels of course is known for this, and their product "Gentleman Jack" claims extra mellowness for the fact that the whiskey is charcoal mellowed both before being placed in barrel as well as before bottling.
I believe that both of these filtration methods are used in rum industry, but much less fuss is made of them among rum aficionados. I wonder if this is simply due to marketing, or will we see similar battles amongst rum enthusiasts about this issue as I've seen amongst whisky hobbyists.
Personally I have posed a different question to this matter, asking "is chill filtration always a bad thing?". There are many older whiskies which are, without a doubt, smashing products. At the same time they are, without a doubt, chill-filtered, with even caramel colouring added to them. I have encountered also non-chillfiltered whiskies that made me wish they had received some further "mellowing"..
This age-old process, first discussed & described around WWI in the English medical publication the Lancet, I believe, was once an industry standard practice and made sure that when adding ice cubes to whisky the drink would remain clear and not "haze up". The most common story goes to blame our American colleagues for this practice; they enjoyed a little ice in their drinks, and upon seeing the whisky go all hazy, thought it was spoiled, sending it back to the manufacturer, asking for a refund. Whether this is true or not remains a mystery to me at least, but the fact is that all blended whisky was chill-filtered and so was the vast majority of single malts. It wasn't until 1990's that we saw whiskies that were not chill filtered. Nowadays many whiskies make a point of emphasizing the non-chill filtration factor in their advertising, as well as in bottling their product at 46% (supposedly the lowest alcohol content percentage in which the water added at bottling stage does not make the whisky go hazy) instead of standard 40% or 43%. Full cask strength products are also increasingly common.
Another filtration method used for example in American whiskey is (maple) charcoal filtration. Jack Daniels of course is known for this, and their product "Gentleman Jack" claims extra mellowness for the fact that the whiskey is charcoal mellowed both before being placed in barrel as well as before bottling.
I believe that both of these filtration methods are used in rum industry, but much less fuss is made of them among rum aficionados. I wonder if this is simply due to marketing, or will we see similar battles amongst rum enthusiasts about this issue as I've seen amongst whisky hobbyists.
Personally I have posed a different question to this matter, asking "is chill filtration always a bad thing?". There are many older whiskies which are, without a doubt, smashing products. At the same time they are, without a doubt, chill-filtered, with even caramel colouring added to them. I have encountered also non-chillfiltered whiskies that made me wish they had received some further "mellowing"..