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Sugar beet spirit is an alternative to traditional rum, which is made from sugar cane. Regulation (EU) 2019/787 of the European Parliament dictates that ‘Rum is a spirit drink produced exclusively by the distillation of the product obtained by the alcoholic fermentation of molasses or syrup produced in the manufacture of cane sugar or of sugar-cane juice itself’.[1] This means that spirits made from sugar beet may not legally be called rum.
Despite the legal categorisation, the production process for sugar beet spirit is identical to traditional rum, only using sugar beet instead of sugar cane. The flavour is similar to rum, but without the more tropical flavours that are associated with the traditional variety, there is also significantly less sugar added after distillation, if any.[2] Sugar beet spirit is not to be confused with rum or gin that use sugar beet as a base sugar, as these retain no characteristics of the raw ingredient in the way that rum does.
UK distilleries
At present, there is only one distillery in the UK that produces sugar beet spirit, Alkemy Distillery.[3] In 2023, Alkemy sugar beet spirit scored a 93 at the IWSC (international wine and spirits competition) [4], making it the highest scoring rum produced in England, despite not legally being categorised as a rum. It has also won a gold medal at the 2024 Rum and Cachaca Masters competition[5], and a silver at the 2024 London Spirits Competition.[6]
Environmental Impact
As sugar cane can only be grown in tropical climates, this means that some form of sugar, or rum itself must be imported to European markets. This results in significant carbon emissions as a result of transport for traditional rum.[7] Sugar beet spirit is used as an alternative to traditional rum in less tropical parts of the world, such as Europe as a way of reducing these emissions.[8]
Vegan Friendly Rum
Sugar cane production uses bovine bone char in the process of turning sugar cane into sugar. As molasses is a result of this process any rum made from molasses (all except Rhum Agricole) cannot claim to be vegan friendly. Bone char, widely known as “natural carbon”, is a product made from the bones of cattle from Afghanistan, Argentina, India, and Pakistan. Cow’s bones are then traded and sold as bone char to sugar factories all over the world to process sugar. Sugar manufacturers use bone char in sugar processing and refining because it acts as a decolourising filter for sugarcane to achieve the desired white coloured sugar.[9]
Beet sugar never involves the use of bone char because sugar beet juice is far easier to refine and process compared to cane juice, making it a vegan-friendly option.
- ^ https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2019/787/annexes/2020-01-31?view=plain#:~:text=The%20minimum%20alcoholic%20strength%20by,shall%20be%2037%2C5%20%25.&text=No%20addition%20of%20alcohol%2C%20diluted%20or%20not%2C%20shall%20take%20place.&text=Rum%20shall%20not%20be%20flavoured.&text=Rum%20may%20only%20contain%20added,means%20of%20adjusting%20the%20colour
- ^ https://www.suffolknews.co.uk/bury-st-edmunds/news/suffolk-brothers-launch-world-first-sugar-beet-spirit-9302133/
- ^ https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/23326878.suffolk-alkemy-distillery-launches-sugar-beet-spirit/
- ^ https://iwsc.net/results/detail/133149/sugar-beet-spirit
- ^ https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2024/03/the-rum-cachaca-masters-2024-results/
- ^ https://londonspiritscompetition.com/en/winner-companies/alkemy-distillery-4295.htm
- ^ https://8billiontrees.com/carbon-offsets-credits/carbon-ecological-footprint-calculators/air-freight-vs-sea-freight-carbon-footprint/
- ^ https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-transport
- ^ https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/is-your-sugar-vegan-the-dirty-secret-of-bone-char-filtration-food-explainer/