In which Bob and Rose drive down to Middendorf, South Carolina for sugar cane syrup – November 18, 2017
SUGAR CANE FOR FAIR GAME
Fair Game Beverage Company is located at The Plant in Pittsboro, NC. Bob has jumped in as the Administrative Elder, but sometimes adds his shoulder to other facets of the business that produces spirits and wine. This venture was a trip to buy fresh pressed sugar cane juice that will be turned into Agricole Rum, a style of rum from the French Caribbean islands made from fresh cane juice, rather than molasses or sugar crystals.
MILLING CANE
Blizzard Branch Milling and Syrup Company grows sugar cane and corn, and produces fresh juice, syrup, corn meal and grits at their farm. The cane is cut by hand and loaded onto carts to bring them up to be pressed by mills into juice.
IMPRESSIVE
The mills are powered by a large single cylinder motor with an 800 pound flywheel. Attached belts transfer the power to a series of mills built in the 1920’s and 30’s that squeeze the cane one stalk at a time to extract the sweet juice.
ON A ROLL
The mills are essentially two large metal rollers that the cane is fed through to press it. With four workers feeding them, they produce about 250 gallons per hour of juice.
SWEET!
The varieties of cane are Blue Hawaiian (the redder stalks) and Yellow Gal (the yellower stalks). Watch those fingers and shirttails!
THERE WILL BE RUM
Rose is our Distiller at Fair Game. Here she’s adding nutrients to the juice in preparation for the yeast to come. The cane juice is running downhill through a 2 inch pipe from the mills to gravity fill our sanitized totes with the promise of rum to come.
PITCHING YEAST
Rose then pitches a slurry of yeast that she prepared back at our shop into the fresh juice so the ferment starts as we drive the two hours back to Pittsboro. The spent cane is loaded into a truck to be hauled off to biodegrade.
AND IN TWO YEARS…
This unique and rare method captures the wild yeast and fresh cane flavor which give the Carolina Agricole its distinctive flavor profile. Twice distilled in our copper alembic pot still and aged in bourbon barrels, this very special rum is made to be savored.