by Raul Menchaca
HAVANA, March 3 (Xinhua) -- On his second trip to what came to be known as the New World in 1493, Christopher Columbus introduced sugarcane to Cuba. Years later, the sugarcane plant gave rise to one of the island's most successful industries -- rum-making.
Light rum -- also known as white or silver rum -- is especially closely associated with Cuba, where rum-making has a long and illustrious history.
El Infierno, a distillery founded in 1870 in the north-central town of Sagua La Grande, was once considered the largest in the world, and some of its alcohol output went into making the famed French Guerlain perfume.
The San Lino distillery, which is located south of El Infierno in Cienfuegos province and was founded in 1862 by Jose Ramon and Lino Montalvo Rodriguez, is another major distillery of the island country.
Both distilleries, strategically located near extensive sugarcane fields and sugar mills, are now abandoned. But traces of the know-how that went into them and even some ancient barrels still exist in the Agustin Rodriguez Mena Central Rum Factory in the Villa Clara town of Santo Domingo.
Santo Domingo is the birthplace of Cuba's award-winning Cubay rum, created in 1996 and recognized as offering "the authentic flavor of central Cuba."
"This factory is home to the central school of Cuban rum, therefore Cubay rum transmits the tonalities, flavors and all the characteristics of this school," said Carlos Armas, an industrial engineer and director of the factory.
Armas expects the plant to produce 525,000 crates, each containing nine bottles, of different types of Cubay rum and the liquor Elixir 33.
The distillery was built in 1942 and now produces 30,000 liters a day. Its cellars stock more than 50,000 white oak barrels, in which rums are aged, some for up to 80 years.
"We use the final product of the sugar production process as the only raw material to make rum," said Armas, who taste tests from the first bottle of each production batch "to ensure quality."
In recent years, Cubay has become a well-known brand in Spain, Italy and some eastern European countries.
However, Cuban rum makers are eyeing the Chinese market, where they now have a modest presence but are negotiating with distributors to boost sales.
"We can export to the Chinese market rum that represents Cuba's central school of rum, which also has a magnificent quality," said Armas.
The plant produces seven kinds of rum, including premium Cubay Carta Blanca Extra Aged and Cubay Extra Aged 1870.
