Studies On Rum – 1945

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The blog is pleased to present a digitized copy of Rafael Arroyo’s Studies On Rum from 1945. This edition was created by the hard work of incredible Friend of Rum, Simon Desjardins! The beauty of this edition is that besides the meticulous layout, you can easily search through the text for key words which will help anyone like myself that constantly references it. The hope is this document will continue to generate interest in dormant ideas in rum production as well as a renaissance for fission yeasts. We aim to launch ships!

Most of Arroyo’s works were either lost (no citations) or functionally unavailable (offsite library storage), especially to the international community, but slowly we have recovered them and translated the needed works to English.

Download: Studies on Rum -1945 PDF

If you are interested in Studies on Rum, it is well worth also reading the lost preface to the book that was serialized in the Spanish language. There are fifteen, roughly two page, articles that support the text in a less technical language.

Five years ago, the blog started collecting Arroyo’s lost papers and since then a group of amazing collaborators have started to bring the work to life. We are actively growing multiple historic fission yeasts and using them in ferments. We are also actively isolating new fission yeasts and developing a frame work to test them for fitness in rum production. Arroyo’s birectifier laboratory tool for evaluating distillates has been recovered and reproductions are available. We’ve also explored near all of Arroyo’s concepts and isolated examples of aroma-beneficial bacteria he used. A lot could be said!

Studies On Rum was quite unique because it teaches how to start a production from scratch and systematically arrive at optimum values that fit the yeast and bacteria used. The text explores both budding and fission yeast, but the latter are the highlight and Arroyo teaches a unique high pH process that can push the results from unremarkable to extraordinary and loaded with rum oil. Countless dormant ideas exist in the text that are not currently in use in the rum industry but may be of immense value and solve a lot of emerging challenges while producing a finer product.

Arroyo had ideas for both fine and commodity spirits and many of the commodity ideas were integrated to industry via the Rum Pilot Plant which started a generation later. Many of the finer ideas never came to be because of poor timing (weak demand for fine rum) and their advanced technical demands. Arroyo died untimely in middle age. Last year, we actually found evidence that in the 1940’s Jamaica wanted to hire Arroyo as a consultant to help them regain control of fission yeasts for rum production. Sadly, nothing came to be.

Thank you Simon for the hard work! This text will be a big piece of the puzzle to a true run renaissance.