The journey of becoming

How a rum masterpiece is created

As a writer, I often pause to think about the process by which I write. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a bit chaotic, with highlighted phrases here, the odd quote there, and many a bookmarked web or book page for reference. It’s a physicalisation of the way that my mind works: jumping incessantly from one thing to another and picking out points of interest along the way.

But, as chaotic as it may seem, this nebulous cloud of words eventually comes together into a cohesive piece of writing.

I wonder if it bears any similarity to the process by which some people create a rum. In reality, I know that the creation of any spirit requires a fair degree more precision – you can’t ferment and distil a liquid guided by artistic instinct alone and expect that something drinkable will come out at the other end. Indeed, the number of scientists who take jobs with distilleries, or start their own, strongly supports the fact that distilling is, at its heart, more scientific than it is creative.

You could make the point that, in today’s rum market, a strong brand identity that stands out from the crowd is as integral to success as a well-executed liquid. And, arguably, devising the spirit itself requires some level of creative thought.

Perhaps this is where we creative souls fit into the spirits production jigsaw. For, while we are not masters of formulae, we are pretty good at coming up with ideas, and these ideas are the fuel on which any business – from distilling to furniture manufacturing – survives and thrives.

Things, whether they be material objects or non-physical concepts, do not simply spring, fully formed, into existence.

Behind the ‘thing’ is an idea that has to be nurtured, fed, explored, tested, expanded and contracted, broken down and rebuilt, to create that which now stands before you.

This process has several requirements of the people involved: inquisitiveness or creativity to spark the idea in the first place; technical knowledge to enable a proper enactment of the necessary processes; determination to see it through to its conclusion; and passion, even courage, to fight off the naysayers. The vital thread which runs through the entire operation to keep it alive is faith: in the idea, in the processes, in the outcome, or just in the vision of what you hope it could be.

Once that idea coalesces into something real – again, physical or metaphysical – it has completed its journey of becoming. For the literature fans out there, it brings to mind the 19th-century bildungsroman, a genre in which we follow the growth of an individual through various tribulations and successes until they attain fulfilment, satisfaction, or happiness.

The creation of a great rum could also be seen to follow this arc. It could even be extrapolated to the whole rum category, whose evolving personality and boundaries make the journey all the more exciting for distillers. This is exemplified by nations such as Barbados, which is reaching toward a formal definition for its rums, or the United Kingdom, whose distillers are forging their own paths in the rum space.

It feels like the rum category itself is still in the process of becoming, feeling its way towards what it wants to be on a micro and macro scale. I, for one, can’t wait to see where the journey takes us next.

“It feels like the rum category itself is still

in the process of becoming... ”