BATON ROUGE — Louisiana sugarcane has been a staple of the state’s agricultural landscape for generations, but Oxbow Rum Distillery uses the familiar crop to craft a different kind of family tradition: locally made rum.

The family behind the distillery has worked in the sugar industry since 1859. Today, fifth-generation family member Olivia Stewart is helping carry that legacy into a new chapter.

"Oxbow Rum Distillery is my family's rum distillery. We are a single estate distillery, meaning that we own the entire process from the sugarcane that they plant out on the farm in Lakeland, Louisiana, through the sugar meal, the harvesting, the manufacturing of the sugar, the molasses, the juice, all the way through to the distillery in Baton Rouge," Stewart said.

The process begins on the family farm in Lakeland, where the cane is grown before traveling to the Baton Rouge distillery.

"I grew up out there on the farm. I still live out there. I watch the cane grow every day, so it truly is as close to home and family-owned and farm distillery as you can get," Stewart said.

Oxbow Rum Distillery opened in 2016, building on a multi-generational operation centered on sugarcane.

Distillery tours give visitors a firsthand look at the production process, even allowing guests to feed stalks through a crusher to extract fresh juice. Oxbow uses that juice to craft agricole-style rum, a less common variety showcasing the cane's natural flavor profile.

"And then we also make rum from cane juice, which is another rare raw ingredient," Stewart said.

Stewart said the focus remains on keeping the product simple and authentic.

"We want the raw ingredient to shine in our rum. We don't want to cover it up with additives or sugar and all of that," Stewart said.

After distillation, portions of the rum age in oak barrels, where the spirit develops its color and flavor profile over time.

For Stewart, the craft represents more than distilling spirits.

"I just love that feeling of carrying on a family legacy, you know, five generations, and my dad is still down at the mill every day," Stewart said.

Tours conclude with a tasting of four spirits, including the cane juice rum. For guests skeptical of the spirit, Stewart believes it comes down to discovering the right pour.

"A lot of people come here and say that they don't drink rum or that they had a bad experience with rum when they were younger, and I always say you just haven't had a rum that you like yet," Stewart said.