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Copalli RumWebsite: www.copallirum.com
Hawai'i Distributor: Southern Wine & Spirits |
Founding Story
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Situated where the mountains of Southern
Belize spill into the reef of the Caribbean Sea, Copalli Rum’s distillery and the associated Copalli Tree lodge sit within the footprint of a former sugar plantation, sugar mill and rum distillery that has been operating since the mid-1800s. The story of sugar on the land starts in the 1860’s when when Confederates from Alabama and Texas settled in the region to produce cattle and cultivated the area in response to the high global demand for sugar. As a by-product of that production, a distillery which made Rocky Run Rum was developed in the 1940s and ran until the 1970s. At that juncture, the distillery closed and the property was turned into a citrus farm. In 2001, the property was sold, and a fly fishing lodge named El Pescador South was constructed. In 2005, Todd Robinson, an entrepreneur and financier turned conservationist visited the lodge. While fishing, he found a lack of success due to soil runoff into the ocean caused by logging. This inspired his purchase of the property along with 22,000 acres of rainforest with the goal of environmental preservation through private land stewardship and by providing an alternative economic opportunity to logging. This ultimately resulted in a pioneering eco-lodge that embodied a farm-to-table agritourism spirit while conserving the surrounding rainforest. Its name: Copal Tree Lodge. In 2015, to expand on Copal Tree Lodge, construction began on Copal Tree Distillery. It was subsequently transferred into a trust that supports philanthropic efforts in the Toledo District of Southern Belize. Unlike many distilleries that were built decades ago, Copal Tree was built from day one to minimize its resource use and overall environmental impact. |
Values
Sustainability is a major component of Copalli Rum and the associated businesses of Copalli Lodge and Copalli Tree Farm. According to Ed Tiedge, President and Master Distiller of Copal Tree Distillery “We incorporate sustainability into everything we do, because we understand its importance to not only a well-crafted rum, but also to our community, our consumers and our future.” This comes in the form of both economic and environmental sustainability. Economic benefits to the community
Environmental Sustainability With environmental sustainability inmind and a goal to waste absolutely nothing, the creation of a generally closed-loop system with minimal imports helps to reduce the rum’s overall carbon footprint. Additionally, Copal Tree Farms is the first Certified Organic farm in Belize. In particular, “waste” streams from one process are used as inputs for another and results in less than 50 gallons of garbage generated per week. For example:
Brand Name The Copal tree (Protium copal), which is native to Belize and Central America, is known for producing “copal” a tree resin that was ritually burned as in incense offering to the gods by pre-Columbian Mesoamericans. More recently it has a similar purpose as incense used for blessing and a spiritual cleansings as well as healing properties when used topically to ease skin irritations and muscle soreness. |
Ingredients
“We know that the quality of our rum is only as good as the sugar cane and cacao that we locally source, so a lot of time and energy is devoted to doing that the right way,” said Tiedge
Sugarcane Types
Heirloom sugarcane varieties of a black Noble Cane and a red Noble Cane.• A red Noble Cane is currently used in the production of the current product.
Harvesting
Harvest occurs during Belize’s dry sea-son which begins in March and lasts through June or July. In this process, the cane is hand-cut without the use of burning. This avoids particulate emis-sions common when cane is burnt. The roots are also left intact allowing the cane to regenerate for the next five harvest seasons and increase its ability to store carbon deeper into the soil. Af-ter being cut, the leaves are trimmed off and used as both a weed barrier and as mulch which retains soil moisture. This process has shown the added benefit of increasing yearly sugarcane yields at Copal Tree Farms.
Crushing
At the distillery, a dual roller mill from Columbia crushes the cane at a rate of four tons per hour using a reduced milling technique for juice extraction. This technique sacrifices some yield in favor of a richer, more complex taste profile. The cane juice is then trommel filtered to remove some of the solids, but no heavy filtering or pasteurization is used. The bagasse (cane fiber) is then dried and used as biomass for the dis-tillery’s boiler.
Cane juice parameters:
Heirloom sugarcane varieties of a black Noble Cane and a red Noble Cane.• A red Noble Cane is currently used in the production of the current product.
- A black Noble Cane is used in a Belizean white rum and aged rums that are currently being matured
- These heirloom varieties of Noble Cane were already growing and self-propagating on the land neighboring the distillery. After sampling the juice of a dozen types of sugarcane, including several heirloom and commercial hybrid varieties, the Noble Cane was selected for its complex flavors. Growing All the sugarcane used in Copalli Rum is grown on 120 of the 3,000 acre Copal Tree Farms with another 100 acres in development. Of the 120 acres, 20 are dedicated to growing cane cuttings that are used to expand growth. At a separate farm another 100 acres is being developed. In the growing of cane:
- Planting of the fields starts in October when 4 foot in lengths of stalk cuttings are laid horizon-tally in furrows and then covered with soil. The joints or nodes of the stalk, which are several inches apart, are what sprout the buds that turn into new shoots within 10-days to 2 weeks and fully mature in a year
- Only organic fertilizer of treated vinasse, burnt ash from the boiler, and chicken manure are used. Additionally, fields are weeded by hand without the use of pesticides or chemical weed control. This al-lows nutrients to remain beneath the soil, and increases water retention and insect biodiversity.
Harvesting
Harvest occurs during Belize’s dry sea-son which begins in March and lasts through June or July. In this process, the cane is hand-cut without the use of burning. This avoids particulate emis-sions common when cane is burnt. The roots are also left intact allowing the cane to regenerate for the next five harvest seasons and increase its ability to store carbon deeper into the soil. Af-ter being cut, the leaves are trimmed off and used as both a weed barrier and as mulch which retains soil moisture. This process has shown the added benefit of increasing yearly sugarcane yields at Copal Tree Farms.
Crushing
At the distillery, a dual roller mill from Columbia crushes the cane at a rate of four tons per hour using a reduced milling technique for juice extraction. This technique sacrifices some yield in favor of a richer, more complex taste profile. The cane juice is then trommel filtered to remove some of the solids, but no heavy filtering or pasteurization is used. The bagasse (cane fiber) is then dried and used as biomass for the dis-tillery’s boiler.
Cane juice parameters:
- Brix 15-18°• 1 ton of cane yields ~620 L of juice
Water
Cacao
Types: Criollo and Trinitario
- “Rainforest canopy water” is col-lected by a roof cistern system and stored in two rainwater collection tanks. This captures approximate-ly 100,000 gallons of rainwater during the rainy season. A carbon filtration system is then used for impurity removal. This is the only water used in proofing.
- Waste water is all collected and treated and returned into the fields.
Cacao
Types: Criollo and Trinitario
- Rather than using pesticides, criollo seedlings are grafted onto the Trinitario rootstock.
- After harvesting, the cacao is fermented in crates for approximately seven days with periodic stirring.
Production Process
Fermentation
- Yeast: Proprietary yeast chosen for its consistency
- Fermentation vessel: Enclosed temperature controlled tanks of 32,500 L each.
- Fermentation Temperature 88 °F
- No nutrient supplementation
- Fermentation pH: 5.2
- Fermentation duration: 3 days
- Final ABV: 7.5-8.5%
Distillation
Continuous column with three columns
Beer Column
ABV Hydrogen Selector (purifier column)
Rectification column
Pot still 2 x distillation runs
Big G: 5,000 L
Little G: 2000 L
Continuous column with three columns
Beer Column
- Height: 21 meters
- Plates: 21 perforated stainless steel plates
- Use: Concentrates alcohol and removes solids
- Final product: 75%
ABV Hydrogen Selector (purifier column)
- Height: 15m
- Plates: 55 valve tray plates that are a combination of stainless steel and copper.
- Use: Designed by Puerto Rican engineers to extract as much flavor as possible from the distillate stream. In this process, hot water is added to the distillate from the beer column, before being passed through the still. This allows it to extract the alcohol that becomes non-soluble at low concentrations of low concentrations of water.
- Final product: 25% ABV
Rectification column
- Height: 22 m
- Plates: 70 valve-tray plates. The first half are stainless steel, the second half are copper.
- Use: Brings final product up to proof.
Pot still 2 x distillation runs
Big G: 5,000 L
- First distillation
- Produces: Low Wines of 28-29% ABV
Little G: 2000 L
- Cuts similar to cognac: 1-2% is heads, next 2/3ds is the hearts with the remainder being seconds and tails.
- 2nds and tails are collected and processed in the distillation column.
- Final ABV from still: 70%
Barrel Aging
Post Distillation or Aging Flavor modifications
No sugar is added to any of the products.
Filtration
Cellulose filtration using a lenticular filter.
Blending Approach
For More insight
- Producer: Various
- New oak percentage: None
- Previously contained: Bourbon Barrels
- Number of times used: 3 times maximum
- Barrel entry proof: 123
- Time in barrel: 10-15 months
- Angel’s Share: 8-9% per year
- Inventory (2021): 1,000 barrels
Post Distillation or Aging Flavor modifications
No sugar is added to any of the products.
Filtration
Cellulose filtration using a lenticular filter.
Blending Approach
- Consistency between batches but adjustments are minor.
- No blending of different production years.
For More insight
- Copalli Tree Lodge: www.copaltreelodge.com
- An interview with Ed Tiedge on Authentic Caribbean Rum.https://www.youtube.com/@AuthenticCaribbeanRum
The Line-Up
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Copalli White Rum
more interesting, heavier bodied rums. Copalli Barrel Rested Rum
Tasting and Usage Notes: This rum sits heavier than the Copalli white rum due to the blending. Because of this it can sit neat or stand up to heavier flavors including amaro. |
Copalli Cacao Rum
Tasting and usage notes: By redistilling the rum, the roasty-chocolatey aromas from maillard compounds are retained while discarding the cacao polyphenols. These flavors pair well and function like an embellishment of the ethyl acetate (fruity) and isoamyl acetate (banana) aromas prevalent in some single origin craft chocolate and in agricole style rum. |