Louisiana's Three Roll Estate: Rhum Agicole From Cane to Glass

Louisana is the second most abundent producer of sugar cane in the United States, following Florida with over 1,500 thousand short tons of harvested sugar. Baton Rouge's Three Roll Estate provides a small portion of this figure through their sugar cane estate. They are also a certified Farm to Table producer through their Cane to Glass process where the sugar cane is grown on a single estate in the delta and crushed at their mill as it passes through three steel rolls. The juice is then fermented and distilled in the French Caribbean rhum agricole style which provides a more grassy and intense rum. 

Their signature product is the Three Roll Estate Rhum Agricole Premium Rum which is produced once a year at harvest where the sugar cane juice is fermented 90 minutes after pressing. This rum is the truest expression of the Cane to Glass process and is the rum we purchased after our visit. It's extremely smooth, yet intense with plenty of vegetable and grassy notes and even a bit herbaceous. They also bottle a Three Roll Rhum Agricole White Rum from the juice fermented during the three-month harvest. 

Another product worth considering is the Three Roll Rhum Agricole Brazilian-Style Rum produced by fermenting the cane juice with yeast sourced from Brazil. A Cachaça throughout. The one rum I didn't care for was the Three Roll Rhum Agricole Dark Rum where the cane juice is processed into sugar and the molasses byproduct is fermented and aged in French oak vats, before being finished in American oak. I think the oak overwhelms the white rum and loses the fresh grassy and honey notes. 

It appears our future may entail more visits to Louisana so we looking forward to returning and spending more time in the tasting room and perhaps a visit during harvest. Cheers and thanks to theCompass Craft Beverage Finder.