Fresh sugarcane juice for rum?

[BillHoo]

I know it's the way the first rums were made. But nowadays it seems most rum distilleries are using molasses and not cane juice.

I went to the Vietnamese festival today and among the food vendors, there was one offering fresh squeezed sugar can juice. A bit pricey - $10 for a quart with no ice.

Of course, I was thinking on how to make rum from this and scheming on ways to 1) try and get the fresh cane juice cheaper 2) See if there was enough flavor in the squeezed cane in they would let me haul it away.

They were going through A LOT of Sugar cane!! They filled a trashcan with the squeezed woody ribbons every 20 minutes!

I grabbed some of the canes as they came out of the squeezing machine. It was bone dry and had no flavor or sweetness that I could discern. But then, I had just taken 2nd Place in the Pho eating contest and had gulped down bowls of scalding hot soup in under 2 minutes each. So my tongue was not in best shape for tasting.

I asked the operator if they had a restaurant locally where they serve the cane juice. He saidd they were from New York and onkly do this for festivals that they travel to from around the country.

We had gone to the festival in my wife's car and she was not about to let me fill the trunk with 6 foot squuezed sugar canes!

Maybe next year!

Has anyone made a spirit from fresh squeezed can? Can you compare it to something you made from molasses and sugar?