May 16th, Cuban raw sugar production slowdown and other stories from the past few days...
Cuban raw sugar production slowdown might affect the rum industry, the EU Commission's scheme to back French wine and spirits exports, reasons not to register agave spirits as Mezcal and more...
Hello everyone! Here's a recap of this week's news.
The first news comes from Cuba.
Cuban rum industry might run short of raw material in 2025
The local annual raw sugar production is expected to fall below 200,000 metric tons in 2025 for the first time since the 19th century, which might leave the rum industry short of its key ingredient. Here is Marc Frank’s article on Reuters:
Cuban sugar production falls further, rattling rum makers
A shortage in molasses might obviously affect the production of the freshly obtained “Cuba GI” rum. As the European Commission document says, Cuba GI is “produced from distillates obtained from molasses extracted from sugar cane grown and processed in Cuba” (you can read the English version of the document here).
What could this mean? What if pure juice becomes the raw material, instead of molasses? Looking forward to hearing your opinion on that.
Back on tariffs (I didn’t want to make this the first news today),
The European Commission approved a €5 billion scheme to help French wine and spirits exports to the US
The news popped up on several French newspapers. Here is an article on Vitisphere:
5 milliards € pour que les vins français assurent face aux taxes Trump
The news is also reported in English by Nicola Carruthers on the The Spirits Business:
EU backs French spirits exports to US with €5bn scheme
Original source from the EU Commission here.
Mezcal, the reasons to not register the product
Some small producers prefer not to register their product as “Mezcal” and prefer to name it “Destillado de Agave” instead. This is no news to the people in the business, but Elfinancero.com brings the news out again in this article by Kara Newman:
Los mezcales de bajo costo son una nueva opción en medio del caos arancelario
The article is based on an interview to Ben Zerbe, co-founder of Paquera Mezcal.
We have focused on this matter on Spiritika as well, the spirits section I take care of on Linkiesta Gastronomika (Italian online newspaper). Here is the article by Thea Papa:
Mulini a vento | Il disciplinare del mezcal rischia di svantaggiare i piccoli produttori
Hope you will be able to translate this into English. I might publish an English version of the article soon on my personal Substack
Looking at the bar industry,
Is ice still so crucial?
Some bars are starting changing the way they chill their drinks, saving cash, and cutting waste. Here is an interesting feature by Lauren Bowes on The Spirits Business, I suggest you to read:
Is the on-trade Ice Age coming to an end?
Here are a couple of reads for the weekend.
The story of José Cuervo and Tequila
“Tequila Wars, José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico” is the new book by journalist Ted Genoways. You can find short interviews about it on Npr news:
'Tequila Wars' tells story of José Cuervo and Mexico's oldest, most iconic tequila brand
Then,
What is it like to make rum in Thailand?
I was looking for information about rum production in Thailand a few days ago, before attending the presentation of Shakara rum in Italy, bottled by La Maison Velier. I found this interesting story by Craig Sauers on Punch:
Want to Make Spirits In Thailand? Good Luck.
Hope you find it interesting, like I did.
Wish you a beautiful weekend!