That’s the Spirit, Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

Summer heat and cool rum drinks, the perfect combination. Rum is a great ingredient for your summer cocktail. Its mixability and drinkability, tropical island influence and exciting history all set rum up for a great cocktail.

The word rum comes from the slang term ‘rumbullion,’ meaning uproar. It was called rumbullion until it was shortened to the modern word we all know and love so well. Rum’s beginnings date to around 1650 when sugar mill operators noticed that molasses, when mixed with water and left out in the sun, would ferment. But it was sugar’s journey through history that eventually led to this discovery.

Sugar, a sweet crystalline carbohydrate that occurs naturally in a variety of plants, is the major ingredient of rum. Sugar cane came from the islands of present-day Indonesia in the East Indies. Chinese traders spread its cultivation to Asia and on to India. Arabs brought it to the Middle East and North Africa where it came to the attention of Europeans during The Crusades in the 11th century.

In 1493, Christopher Columbus picked up cane cuttings while on his second voyage to the Americas and transplanted them to Hispaniola, the island in the Caribbean that is now shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Portuguese explorers did the same in Brazil.

The Caribbean basin provides an ideal climate for growing sugar cane causing sugar production to quickly spread throughout the islands. Europe had a high demand for sugar then, which drove the establishment of hundreds of sugar cane plantations and mills in the various European colonies. The mills crushed the harvested cane and extracted the juice. Boiling this juice causes chunks of crystallized sugar to form. The remaining juice is molasses and ferments in water to make rum.

Rum was used as a cure-all for many aches and pains. Sugar plantation owners sold it to naval ships to encourage their presence and to discourage the attention of marauding pirates. This naval-rum connection introduced rum to the outside world and a thriving export trade developed by the late 17th century.

The popularity spread to Colonial America. To support the demand for rum, the first rum distillery was set up in 1664 on present-day Staten Island. This manufacture of rum became early Colonial New England’s largest and most prosperous industry. Rum consumption in the American Colonies before the revolution is estimated at three and a half gallons per every man, woman or child each year.

The shipping of molasses to make rum in New England distilleries became part of the infamous ‘slavery triangle.’ The first leg of the shipment of molasses to New England was to make rum. The second leg was the shipment of rum to the ports of West Africa in trade for slaves. The final leg was the passage of slave ships to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean and South America where many of the slaves were put to work in the sugar cane fields.

The dominance of rum slowly decreased in the 19th century as American whiskey developed and because of the disruption caused by the American Revolution. Eventually, Prohibition in 1920 led to the closing of the New England rum distilleries.

The modern history of rum owes a lot to the spread of air conditioning and the growth of tourism. In the second half of the 20th century, modern air conditioning made it possible for large numbers of people to migrate to warm weather regions where rum remained the dominant spirit. Additionally, the explosive increase in the number of North American and European tourists into rum-drinking regions led to a steady rise in the popularity of rum-based mixed drinks. Nowadays white rum gives vodka serious competition as the mixer of choice in a number of non-tropical markets.

Sugar and rum basically introduced globalization to the world, tying together Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean in a complex alcoholic web of trade and credit. Not until the discovery of oil was any single commodity so important for world trade.

Next time you order a rum and Coke, a pina colada or a daiquiri, reflect on the vast history involved with the cocktail. You might just want to sit back, relax and beat the heat while enjoying a great summer cocktail.

The grades of rum

Light Rums: Also referred to as light, silver and white rums. In general, light rum has little flavor aside from a general sweetness, and serves accordingly as a base for cocktails. Light rums are sometimes filtered after aging to remove any color. The Brazilian Cachaea is generally this type, but some varieties are more akin to ‘gold rums.’ The majority of light rum comes out of Puerto Rico.

Gold Rums: Also called amber rums, these are medium-bodied rums, which are generally aged. These gain their dark color from aging in wooden barrels (usually charred white oak barrels).

Spiced Rum: These rums obtain their flavor through addition of spices and, sometimes, caramel. Most are darker in color and based on gold rums. Some are significantly darker, while many cheaper brands are made from inexpensive white rums darkened with artificial caramel color.

Dark Rum: Also known as black rum, classifies as a grade darker than gold rum. It is generally aged longer in heavily charred barrels. Dark rum has a much stronger flavor than either light or gold rum, and hints of spices can be detected, along with a strong molasses or caramel overtone. It is used to provide substance in rum drinks, as well as color. In addition to uses in mixed drinks, dark rum is the type of rum most commonly used in cooking. Most dark rum comes from areas such as Jamaica, Haiti and Martinique.

Flavored Rum: Some manufacturers have begun to sell rums infused with flavors of fruits such as mango, orange, citrus, coconut or lime. These serve to flavor similarly themed tropical drinks, which are generally comprised of less than 40 percent alcohol, and are also often drunk neat or on the rocks.

Overproof Rum: Rum which is much higher than the standard 40 percent alcohol. Most of these rums bear greater than 75 percent. In fact, preparations of 151 to 160 proof occur commonly.

Premium Rum: As with other sipping spirits, such as cognac and scotch, a market exists for premium and super-premium rums. These are generally boutique brands which sell very aged and carefully produced rums. They have more character and flavor than their ‘mixing’ counterparts, and are generally consumed without the addition of other ingredients.

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