Rum’s character varies by region, traditionally, and much of what defines that character happens before anyone fires up a still. When it comes to Jamaican and Bajan rums, the yeast and fermentation are seminal—yet they’re also woefully misunderstood.
Craft distillers have been attempting to reconnect to yeast of all varieties, but it’s not as simple as pitching another strain. In the Caribbean, distillers have been honing their use of different types of yeast over centuries, and those practices are as integral to their distillations as the soil that grows the sugarcane and the sun overhead.