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If the “r” in Caribbean stands for anything, it’s rum. Giving rise to the rich, caramelly spirit we love to swig and savor, the Caribbean is the world’s most sought-after rum region and its birthplace. Rum makers here proudly uphold a centuries-old tradition woven with enchanting history.
An affinity for pirate lore and an exceptional pairing with tropical flavors put rum in a league of its own. Hidden within the character of this sugarcane-based nectar, a story of bucca- neering, colonial rule and craftsmanship unfolds.
During the early 1700s, rum’s popularity spread like wildfire across the Americas. Jumping aboard the rum craze, swashbuck- lers of the Caribbean swapped out their brandy and wine for the locally produced potable. And pirates drank a lot of rum. Among English buccaneers, the infamous Blackbeard best represented the pirates of the Caribbean persona.
Tall and foreboding with an obsidian beard worthy of his nickname, Blackbeard’s rum consumption impressed even his comrades, who maintained a considerably high level of drunken- ness themselves. No matter how much Blackbeard drank, he never passed out and was known to handle his liquor with legendary stamina. In fact, rum drinking seemed only to improve performance on pirate ships. Piracy analytics of the day show that in a mere 18 months, Blackbeard and his crew captured 20 ships!
For pirates, an abundance of rum didn’t present a self-control problem, but rather the opposite. A rum shortage on a pirate ship was a major issue. One of Blackbeard’s ship logs reads, “Such a day, rum all out. Our company somewhat sober — A damned confusion among us!” Fearing an impending mutiny, Blackbeard relaxed when his crew plundered a ship full of booze, at which point “all things went well again.”
Legend has it that Blackbeard would consume a beastly concoction of rum and gunpowder, which he’d set afire and drink while it flamed and popped. Possibly a fire-eating trick, it thrilled his inebriated audience and strengthened his fearsome reputation.
Fiery cocktails aside, the preferred beverage among pirates was bumbo (also known as bumbu), a mix of rum, water, lime, sugar, nutmeg and sometimes cinnamon. An improvement over the Royal Navy’s Grog, pirates added inventive twists to the beverage. Nutmeg, once worth its weight in gold, and other valuable spices were looted from merchant ships and added to rum.
By adding these plundered spices to their drinks, pirates effectively created the first spiced rums. Famed privateer Sir Henry Morgan, after an illustrious career on the water, chose to retire in Port Royal, Jamaica, the capital of piracy. Captain Morgan spent his golden years sipping Jamaican rum alongside his old privateer buddies in Port Royal. It’s unclear whether he added sugar and spice to his libations, but one thing is certain. His name will live on in eternal infamy among Floridian spring breakers.
Bumbo was by no means a fixed formula. Tropical fruits and juices made available by marauding and foraging were also mixed into rum drinks. These first Caribbean cocktails were sweet, fruity and delicious — minus the cute paper umbrellas and colorful plastic swords.
During rum’s explosion in the early 1700s, sailors in the British Royal Navy began receiving daily rum rations (instead of beer) when outside of home waters. Unlike aboard pirate ships, this became a problem when some sailors stockpiled multiple days’ rations, consumed it all at once and got excessively drunk. What do you do with a drunken sailor?
Around 1750, sailors began receiving a watered-down version of their daily ration, often with lime added, called “Grog” after a well-liked admiral named Old Man Grog. This not only prevented drunkenness on the job, but it also helped sterilize and preserve stagnating water while out to sea. By the 18th century, the beverage became so pervasive that nearly every sailor and land worker was a Grog drinker. The Royal Navy continued its tradition of divvying out daily rum rations until 1970.
Before packing the punch behind many a whimsical cocktail, rum’s early history was not full of mai-tais and mojitos. Thanks to the ingenuity of slaves working on Caribbean sugarcane plantations in the 1600s, sugarcane molasses was distilled into a crude hooch called “kill-devil.” A 1651 document from Barbados describes kill-devil as “a hot, hellish and terrible liquor.” Arriving later, the name “rum” is thought to be derivative of “rumbullion,” a beverage made by boiling sugarcane stalks.
Rum gradually became the sipping delicacy we recognize today. As it devel- oped, rum’s distinct styles were driven largely by the colonial powerhouses of the Caribbean Islands — namely the English, Spanish and French. With a bounty of delicious Caribbean rums to try, you can taste your way through each region and its history.
English-style rum is a molasses-based spirit with rich, powerful flavor and high alcohol content. Known for distinctive molasses notes, it’s the most widespread style and includes black or dark rum — young rum with color, sweetness and spice added. High-end English rums are crafted using pot stills and cask-aged for many years, resulting in a renowned unadulterated purist style. Navy-strength rum, an unaged overproof rum favored by islanders, is relished for its rustic and woody flavors. English rum is enjoyed straight, with ice or in cocktails like the Old-fashioned or Dark ’N Stormy.
More available than whiskey in the 1700s, English rum gained favor among American colonists. George Washington, while running for the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1758, wooed voters with 28 gallons of rum and 50 gallons of rum punch. Later, for his 1789 inauguration, Washington insisted on serving the finest aged Barbados rum — an entire hogshead barrel worth (roughly 63 gallons).
Called “Ron” by Spaniards, Spanish rums are generally lighter-bodied, buttery, clean and smooth. Distilled from sugar- cane honey (concentrated cane juice) or molasses, Spanish rums taste different depending on the stills and barrels used to make and age them. Each Spanish rum producer employs proprietary methods to distinguish flavors per the specifications of its Maestro Ronero, or rum master. Spanish rums range from light rums used in piña coladas and daiquiris to “añejos” — aged, rich, rounded and full-bodied rums to sip neat.
Unlike English and French Caribbean colonies that embraced rum distillation, the Spanish initially viewed rum as competition to its prized brandy and wine. Decrees preventing rum production remained in place until the Treaty of Paris in 1783, when the Spanish government relinquished its Florida territory to regain control of Cuba. Column stills were introduced in the late 1800s with the Industrial Age, and white oak bourbon barrels make the most common storage place for the Spanish good stuff.
Made with sugarcane juice, French-style rum is called “rhum agricole” and differs greatly from molasses-based rum. Agricole means agricultural in French, and rhum agricole is characterized by grassy, vegetal, fruity, earthy and herbal notes. Utilizing stills and casks from a proud cognac-making heritage, rhum agricole is aged for at least three years in French oak barrels. French rum exudes a rich, amber color and is often drunk over ice or mixed in a Ti’ punch or Zombie.
Ironically enough, the Great French Wine Blight of the 1860s helped save a sluggish French rum market. After a nasty little aphid called “grape phylloxera” wiped out France’s vineyards and brandy production, plentiful, cheap French Caribbean rum came to the rescue. Replacing the French Navy’s daily ration of brandy, rum was portioned instead. Along with production improvements and refinement of rhum agricole, the amber elixir grew in popularity among the French. Today, roughly 80% of all Martinican rum exports straight to France.
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