FOUND Nº005
ENGENHOS DO NORTE
Rum, still made by steam.
The steam rum mill on the seafront at Porto da Cruz, on an April evening in the cane season: the only distillery in Europe still driven by steam. Walk the yard under the brick chimney, then step inside to the engine, the crusher and the copper stills.
Porto da Cruz, since 1927
Europe's last rum made by steam
In 1927 some fifty small mills on Madeira merged, and this one was built on the seafront at Porto da Cruz with machinery from the century before. It has worked every year since. Today it is the only distillery in Europe whose key machinery still runs on steam, and one of three historic mills still at work on the island. Since 2013 it has belonged to J. Faria & Filhos, a Madeira wine and rum house. Every spring the cane comes in, and the juice becomes Rum da Madeira.
From VisitMadeira, Rum da Madeira, Spirits Selection and Portugal.com.
Three rollers and a conveyor
Cane comes in by the open door and rides the blue conveyor up into three iron rollers, which squeeze out the juice. It runs into the copper basin below; the crushed stalks, the bagasse, fall away behind.
A single-cylinder steam engine
The mill was set up in 1927 with nineteenth-century machinery, and a single-cylinder engine still drives the rollers, its flywheel turning beside them. Engenhos do Norte is the only distillery in Europe whose key machinery still runs on steam.
Where the steam comes from
A horizontal riveted boiler with a pressure gauge on top. Its steam runs in lagged pipes along the trusses to the engine and to the pumps that move the juice; its smoke goes out by the brick chimney.
Copper, once a year
The juice ferments in the vats, then goes to the copper: pot stills with a red band and rivets, and a tall column rising through the steel gallery. Distilling happens once a year, in the cane season, from April to June.
970 Reserva in oak
Three big casks by the door carry the name of the 970 Reserva, with smaller casks stacked over them and racks along the south wall: the rum that is not bottled white goes into oak here.
Rum da Madeira, from fresh cane juice
Branca · 970 · 980 · North
Agricultural rum, made from the juice of freshly cut cane and never from molasses, under Madeira's protected name. Branca and 970 are the mill's oldest labels and its most decorated: 32 international medals since 2015. Tasting is at the Casa do Rum next door.
Visit Engenhos do Norte
Rua do Cais 6, 9225-050 Porto da Cruz, MadeiraWeekdays 9:00–18:00, weekends 10:00–17:00 (check before you go)
The machines run during the cane harvest in spring; the rest of the year they stand still and can be seen up close.
Sources and credits
Modelled by Madeira1 from photographs of the mill. The hall, the chimney, the shop and the streets from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL).
The front, the chimney, the forecourt wheels, the blue crusher and conveyor, the boiler, the copper stills, the gallery and the 970 casks follow the photographs. Where each machine stands, how the engine is geared to the rollers, every dimension, the shop and the houses over the road are an interpretive reconstruction. The lettering over the door is drawn for this world.
Reference photographs on Wikimedia Commons by Alberto-g-rovi (CC BY 3.0), Michael Gaylard (CC BY 2.0), singra13 (CC BY-SA 3.0), Maximovich Nikolay (CC BY 3.0), Tiia Monto (CC BY 4.0); used for reference only, not shown.
Facts from VisitMadeira, Rum da Madeira, Spirits Selection, Portugal.com and The International Steam Pages. Engenhos do Norte did not commission this portrait.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
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