Brown sugar is one of very few non-liquid sugars that should be considered for making rum without at least a moderate proportion of added molasses. That’s because brown sugar actually contains a small percentage of molasses already, which is the source of base flavour and yeast nutrition for rum. This molasses is re-added back to the sugar after refining, so it is not an unrefined sugar. For an unrefined product with maximum original sugarcane character, you need to look to muscovado sugar instead.

This small percentage of molasses will still only leave you with a light rum flavour. The molasses used in brown sugar is also from an earlier stage in sugar processing, so it doesn't have the intensity of blackstrap/final/C Molasses/treacle. That’s potentially great if you want a general rum flavour but with a much lighter note. By that same measure, fermenting a base of just brown sugar will definitely require a supplementary yeast nutrient due to there being only a small amount of molasses.

We sell this product only as a full 25 kg sack, enough for multiple rum washes. It’s not worth our time to package it into smaller lots and compete with the supermarkets on price for those sizes.

Usage guide:

Approximately 7 kg of brown sugar, combined with a supplementary yeast nutrient, per 25 litre batch.