More than any other alcoholic drink, rum was associated with pirates (yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, anyone?). This initially started when English privateers began trading it. As some of these men eventually became pirates (aim high, kids), they carried with them their liking of rum. Works of literature that coupled rum and piracy perpetuated this notion.
Rum was also associated with the British Royal Navy, an association that began in 1655 when Jamaica was captured by British sailors. Once ashore, rum was so available that the seamen began drinking it instead of the brandy to which they were accustomed.
The refinement of rum began in the place it all started, the Caribbean. Prior to the late 1800s, rums were dark and heavy. The Spanish Royal Development Board set out to make rum more appealing to the general public and offered a reward for anyone who could improve its quality. And so enters Don Facundo Bacardi Masso.
After moving to Cuba from Spain in 1843, Masso began to refine his rumming techniques. He improved distillation, filtering, and aging in casks made of American oak. This all worked together to produce a rum that was light and smooth, a spirit that today we have come to love, to drink, and one that makes our senses rum…ble.
.jpg?t=20120527181101)
Article comments
1 - Me
Hi,
Most sources that I've read claim rum had it bebut in Barbados and that Appleton Estates is the second oldest ditillery. I don't know were you got your sources, but I think you may need to do a little more research. Good article though, thanks.
2 - STM
Jennifer,
I live in a country where rum was once the main currency, and nearly caused a revolution.
This place is full of sugar cane, we still make the stuff here today, and it's still drunk in vast quantity.
My tip: don't go near the stuff unless you like watching situations go slowly pear-shaped, out of control and into the realm of the surreal.
Like a camping trip I went on once, where overproof rum was consumed and one of our comrades decided it would be fun to make us all dance.
Luckily, we were able to get the gun off the bloke before we tied him up for the night to a tree.
3 - Shelly
Jamaican rum is the best
4 - Bob
The best rum in the world is the rum in your glass
5 - Dr Dreadful
Even if it's "Old Cap'n Toenail's 1864 Epithelial Remover No. 1" - 378% proof, distilled in old rugby player's jockstrap recycling bins and with the flavour and general effect of a tactical nuclear detonation occurring 1.7 miles away?
6 - Sherri
Like the first commenter, I can most assuredly say that Rum originated in Barbados and that the Mount Gay distillery in Barbados is the oldest distillery in world,and it still continues to produce superior rum. So while informative your article is flawed.
7 - shayne
what percentage is 58 degrees overproof
8 - Stacy
I'm agreeing a little with the first comment. While it's likely that the earliest distillers/alchemists would've been likely to experiment with sugar in the early stages, it is highly unlikely that anyone would've continued distillation with the use of sugar due to how expensive it was. Mount Gay is the oldest distillery which has produced rum continuously.
9 - Rumlover12
Yeah mt gays distillery is the oldest, that doesn't mean it was the first, or that rum originated in barbados. Simple logic, so for this who say the author needs to do more research, maybe you need to do more than read the back of an eclipse bottle.
10 - Rum Daddy
You're ALL wrong… I invented rum!
11 - Dabba
Ammmm Mount Gay rum is the First and its in Barbados tho....WTF!!! Error much??!! Google it and you'll see the real origin of rum. Sugar Cane or molasses fermented
12 - CArlos
Actually, before colonization even began, natives in the coast of colombia and Venezuela had already discovered the power of rum, in small scale this "magic elixir" was used by the curators to cure colds and sterilize wounds. There is a passage in Columbus's diary dating 1498 that says translated into english " a substance much like wine, yet stronger and colorless, compared to a dirty strong water" this passage clearly refers to Rum..there are also paintings done by natives indicating the procces of making rum from a different plant although it is true that columbus brought sugar canes with him in his second journey, rum has been around since before slaves even got to america.
13 - matt
i must say as a rum lover venezuelan rum is excellent!!
14 - Piratess
Yo guys.... isn't Barbados one of the Caribean Islands???? So aren't you contradicting youselves?????