Rum’s time has come at last. For far too long, the Caribbean spirit has been the party gal of the drinks world, its natural complexities hidden in fruity, creamy and overly sweet cocktails. But now, thanks to an influx of premium, handcrafted rums, we’re discovering that it can be as sophisticated and satisfying a sipper as cognac or fine whisky.
This recognition has been a long time coming. Rum has been produced in the Caribbean since the 17th century, the end result of what is, essentially, industrial waste from sugar cane processing. Back then, it was known as kill-devil or rumbullion, “a hot, hellish and terrible liquor” with what the writer Charles William Taussig would come to call “a sinister and vicious history.”
“It started off as a really nasty spirit, and that was the kind of people it was associated with,” says Jason Browne, bar manager at Calabash Caribbean Bistro in Vancouver, which likely serves the city’s widest selection of rums and rum cocktails. “But rum was also literally connected with the birth of a continent. Rum was the original spirit of the Americas. It wasn’t whisky at all.”
Middle Eastern cultures had been making fermented drinks from sugar cane juice and distilling spirits for centuries before Christopher Columbus first planted the sweet grass on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. It took another century before someone – probably a Scottish or Irish exile longing for the whisky of home – put the sciences of fermentation and distillation together with sugar production and came up with rum.
It proved to be a profitable way to use up the industry’s otherwise worthless by-product, molasses.
Rum most likely originated on Barbados. The first legal document referring to rum dates to 1703 at the island’s Mount Gay distillery, although plantation records suggest that it was being made there at least as far back as 1667. Unfortunately, says Mount Gay’s global brand ambassador, Chesterfield Browne (no relation to Jason Browne), “In 1667 those guys didn’t realize they were creating history.”
From Barbados, the manufacture of rum quickly spread to the other Caribbean islands. “The one universal uniting factor for the Caribbean is rum – lots of it,” the author Ian Williams writes in Rum: A Social and Sociable History.
But the story of rum wasn’t always a sweet one. Those sugar plantations were run by slaves who, in a bitter twist of irony, were often purchased by the very rum they would produce. When plantation owners colonized what would become the United States, they brought with them both traditions of rum production and slavery. By the mid-18th century, rum had become the biggest manufacturing industry in the colonies. When the English slapped punitive taxes on the molasses needed to make rum, the colonists rebelled and launched the American Revolution.
Meanwhile, rum had become the preferred tipple of sailors worldwide, used as currency by the pirates who terrorized the Spanish Main and provided to sailors in the British Navy in their daily ration of grog.
By the 19th century, rum had evolved from a harsh, fiery liquor into a much more palatable spirit. Distillers had discovered that aging the distillate in oak casks smoothed out its rough edges. And tipplers had discovered that combining rum with fruit juices and syrups was an even more pleasant way to enjoy it, especially in the punches favoured at gentlemen’s clubs in London.
But after a surge of illicit popularity during Prohibition and the tiki craze of the 1940s and ’50s, rum fell out of fashion. Popularity turned to vodka and premium whiskies and rum was largely relegated to Caribbean vacations and holiday eggnog.
Now all that’s changing, in part because so many high-quality rums are appearing on the market. Today we can not only find crisp, white rums kissed with floral and citrus notes, we can also enjoy a wide range of deep, rich, dark, aged rums with complex flavours of dried fruit, cocoa, toffee, orange peel, vanilla and spice. More and more, these rums are appearing on after-dinner drinks lists at high-end restaurants, alongside the single malt scotch and cognac.
It’s also because so many mixologists are discovering just how easygoing rum can be in a cocktail – and not just the perennial mojito or trendy-all-over-again tiki drinks like the mai tai. “The great thing about rum is, first and foremost, its versatility,” says Jason Browne. “Its versatility is what makes it unique.”
At Calabash, Browne is using rum in classic cocktails that traditionally call for whisky or cognac: “old-fashioned, Manhattan, a really nice one called Red Hook – and a rum Sazerac is a fantastic cocktail. I find I can take any spirit and substitute it with rum,” he adds. “It’s not like bourbon where all the bourbons are going to be a similar flavour. We’re trying to get people into rum because it’s so nice to drink.”
But maybe rum’s greatest appeal is its fascinating story. As Mount Gay’s Chesterfield Browne notes, “There is no other spirit that has as much history.”
Exploration, slavery, piracy, colonization, currency, rebellion, prohibition, tourism and now a gourmet revolution – that’s a lot to fit into a small glass. But this is one spirit that manages to do it deliciously.
Discover the subtle depths and luscious flavours of this historic spirit; we suggest these rums now available in stores. (Click on availability to find out where to buy.)
Although pyrat is produced in the Caribbean British overseas territory of Anguilla, it is actually a blend of rums from all over the Caribbean, aged in french and American oak. it is intensely sweet, with a distinctively strong flavour of orange peel and slight hints of spice and tobacco.
This multiple-award-winning spirit is the staple rum for many bartenders. it is beautifully balanced, rich, complex and versatile, with flavours of ripe banana, baked apples, dried fruits and warm spices. drink as an after-dinner sipper or in cocktails.
The rums in this premium blend are aged a minimum of 12 years in small oak casks to create a full-bodied sipping rum. Expect notes of molasses, orange peel, vanilla, toasted oak and just a hint of nuttiness. nice with ice or in a Rum Manhattan.
This blend of vintage rums is aged a further year in new oak barrels. Each numbered bottle comes from a single cask, so there are subtle variations from bottle to bottle. The smooth, round flavour is similar to cognac, with notes of toffee, vanilla and dried fruit.
This is an ideal departure for scotch lovers looking for something a bit different. The heavily charred oak barrels used in the aging process add a pleasant smokiness to the flavours of molasses, vanilla and subtle dried fruit, with hints of tobacco on the nose.
Aged in oak barrels then triplefiltered to create a clear spirit, this is a most unusual expression of rum. it is well- balanced and light-bodied, with an inviting aroma and flavour, including notes of banana, butterscotch, mint and citrus peel. Terrific in cocktails and mixed rinks.
