RUM HISTORY
As early Spanish and Portuguese explorers began to venture into the Atlantic Ocean, they planted sugar cane in the Canary and Azores Islands. Christopher Columbus took cane cuttings from the Canaries on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493 and transplanted them to Hispaniola, the island now shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The Caribbean basin proved to have an ideal climate for growing sugar cane and sugar production quickly spread around the islands.
Demand for sugar in Europe led to establishment of hundreds of sugar cane plantations and mills in various English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Dutch colonies. Mills crushed harvested cane, boiled extracted juice, removed crystallized chunks that formed and processed them into sugar. What remained was sticky syrup (molasses) which still contained a significant amount of sugar. Mill operators noticed molasses would ferment when mixed with water and left out in the sun. By the 1650s this former waste product was being distilled into a spirit. It was called “rumbullion” or “kill divil” originally and shortened over the years to the modern word rum.
Plantation owners sold rum at discounted prices to naval ships to encourage their presence in local waters as protection from marauding pirates. The British navy adopted a daily ration of a half-pint of rum in 1655 which was cut to a half water, half rum drink called grog around 1740. Grog was part of British naval life until 1970. The result of drinking too much of it is the source of the word “groggy.”
Rum was exported to the New England Colonies in exchange for lumber and dried cod (still a culinary staple in the Caribbean). This soon expanded to export of molasses to distilleries in New England which, for a time, was Colonial New England’s largest and most prosperous industry. Disruption of trade caused by the American Revolution and the rise of whiskey production in North America resulted in gradual decline of demand for rum. Rum production in the US decreased through the 19th century until Prohibition closed the last New Englan rum distilleries in 1920.
RUM TYPES
Most of the world’s rum is now produced in the Caribbean and Latin America. There is no single set of standards; each nation has its own rules and laws regarding spirit proof, minimum aging, and naming of rum varieties. The following general categories describe the common types of rum:
- Light Rum, also known as silver or white rum, is distilled from fermented molasses, aged up to a year in oak barrels or stainless steel tanks, charcoal-filtered to remove any color, and blended to achieve a consistent taste. It has little flavor aside from a general sweetness and is most often used in cocktails. Most light rum is produced in Puerto Rico.
- Gold Rum, also called amber rum, is distilled as above but aged longer in used oak bourbon barrels, thus giving it a darker color and a stronger, medium-bodied flavor. Gold rum is served straight or in darker cocktails.
- Spiced Rum is gold rum with cinnamon, rosemary, aniseed, pepper, or other spices added.
- Dark Rum, also known as brown, black, or red rum, is darker than gold rum due to aging two years or more in charred oak barrels. It has a much stronger flavor with background hints of spices, molasses, and caramel. It provides color and substance in rum drinks and is also used in cooking. Most dark rum comes from Caribbean islands such as Jamaica, Haiti, and Martinique.
- Flavored Rum is light rum infused with fruit flavors such as orange, strawberry, raspberry, melon, lemon, or cherry. It is served straight or used in tropical drinks to enhance particular themes.
- Overproof Rum has 60%-80% alcohol instead of the standard 40% of other rums.
- Premium Rum has more character and flavor and is produced in small batches as a high-end boutique item similar to Cognac. It is generally served straight.
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“The first time I played the Masters, I was so nervous I drank a bottle of rum before I teed off. I shot the happiest 83 of my life.” — Chi Chi Rodriguez