Major Clarity Issues With A Dark Rum

[Cool Guy Sky]

I recently had an issue with a batch of our dark rum, and I just cannot figure out what went wrong. We have been producing this dark rum for many years with essentially the same recipe: rum, molasses, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and caramel color. Our blending process is simple: mix it all together using a pump, then run it through a 1.0PP filter. We've never had an issue until now. Basically, every bottle that came from this batch is cloudy and full of black chunks. I've attached an image for an example. 

 

What could have caused this? We've brainstormed a number of possibilities, but none of them make sense to me. Should I be blending the molasses with hot water first to help it dissolve? Do I need smaller filters? Any ideas you guys might have would be a great help, thanks!

[Kindred Spirits]

It looks like your filter isn't doing its job. Have you checked to see if your filter got damaged somehow?