In Spirit

Rum! The word conjures so many images: sailors, pirates and the high seas; the Caribbean and oversized cocktail glasses with umbrella garnishes; the Trade Triangle, slaves and plantations. It speaks of exotic places and sun-trenched beach parties. But what is it about this spirit and all its divergent incarnations?  

In some form or other, rum was probably the world’s first distilled alcohol. Recent discoveries in modern-day Pakistan and India confirm that alcohol was being distilled from sugarcane as early as 500 B.C. Christopher Columbus is credited with bringing this “weed that gives honey without bees” (a great quote by Alexander the Great) to the New World and thus allowing a whole industry to flourish- good or bad as it may have been.

Most Americans would define whiskey as our national spirit; however, it was rum that was first produced in the colonies, long before our native Bourbon. The Boston Tea party may have had more to do with sugar and the ability to produce rum then with tea.