Hispaniola, the island the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti, is second only to Cuba in size in the Caribbean. My journey started on the Southern coast near Santo Domingo and the sugar cane fields of San Pedro de Macrois

Brugal starts its life as sugar cane. This grass grows tall in the Dominican sun until cut down with a few whacks of a machete. Chewing on the fiberous interior produces a sweetness that is nearly worth all the chewing it takes to pry it out. The sugar cane on the island is all grown to make sugar. The rural area is dotted with the massive towers of sugar cane refineries. After harvesting, pressure steaming, and crystalizing as much sugar as they can out of the crop, they are left with a great deal of molasses. Rum distillers are more than happy to take this off their hands and Brugal has setup their distillery just around the corner.

The first thing that strikes you about their facility is its scale. It's clear that they are making a serious amount of rum.

I still have some childish glee whenever presented with the opportunity to wear a hard hat.

Trucks deliver regular shipments of molasses and deposit molasses into underground tanks.

This batch was nearly complete and offered the rare opportunity of being able to stick my finger in and grab some molasses straight from the source. Brugal uses a molasses that's high in fermentable sugars and while it still has some of the sulfurous notes you'd expect, it was certainly gentler than the blackstrap molasses used baking.

Sugar is a seasonal product, while rum is not. As a result these massive tanks each hold more than a million gallons. It's enough to get them through the 2-3 month window when molasses availability dries up.

The molasses is quickly fermented to produce alcohol and is then continuously distilled to isolate the specific alcohols that the engineers are looking for. This 6 story tall column-still has a capacity of nearly forty thousand liters. Brugal's focus is on aged rums and as a result they are very exacting about their process. Their distillery avoids nearly all romanticization. Their original stills are nowhere to be found and no one is clamoring for the return of the ox drawn wagons of sugar cane. On the contrary, our guide was most excited about the digesters located on site, which transform the waste of the first distillation, the vinaza, into a clean biogas which they use as fuel for the still and to save on their energy bill. Tradition becomes problematic in this region's dark history and so Brugal isn't focused on making the rum of its founder. This 5th generation of the family is focused on purity. They distill a rum nearly devoid of the heavy alcohols that get created along the way and make a product designed to pull a clean expression of the American oak barrels in which it will mature in for the next few years.

Eventually though it was time to leave our gracious hosts and shiny hard hats to head out to Boca Marina. Lounging, drinking, and dining, on a functional dock is perhaps the perfect way to enjoy the distillery's final product. Their dry rums help prevent cocktails from straying too far into the sweet side of the spectrum. Their Ron Añejo also gives the simple mojito a great color.

The next time you fly into Santo Domingo have the driver bring you to Boca Marina. It's only about 5 minutes away and will jumpstart the relaxing Caribbean vibe your were no doubt looking for. The food is simple and comforting... a slightly Spanish twist on the same kinds of deep fried wonderfulness that I grew up with in Maine.

Seafood platters...

... croquettes ...

... calamari. The food is familiar even in if the menu looks foreign.

In this case being adventurous has a low risk and a decidedly high upside.

I felt properly rewarded for a long flight and my 30 minutes of machete-wielding in the sugar cane fields. It became clear to me as the sun set, that while I had no future in the fields I certainly had more rum on the horizon. Brugal is ubiquitous on the island, their domestic sales there are somewhat mind boggling. I was just beginning to come to realize the importance of the island to the spirit and the great importance of the company to the island. With day one complete I was both satisfied and curious for more.