Introduction to Rum

Contrary to popular belief rum was distilled in Europe before Columbus discovered America and was made in Brazil long before it began to be made in the West Indies. However, it was the huge demand for sugar in Europe and the urge to break the stranglehold of the Arabs on the sugar trade that led to the development of the sugar industry in the West Indies. The Spanish settlers noticed that molasses, the sticky residue, left behind in the boiling pans, after the crystallized sugar is removed from the sugarcane juice, when distilled after fermentation, produced a rich and pleasant beverage, called "kill-devil" or "rumbullion" and by the middle of the 17^th century was simply called rum.

While making rum is an art, the secret of which is well guarded by the few who hold it, the basic steps in the process are very simple. The final ageing in oak barrels, gives rum its richness and depth. Light rums are clear to pale gold in colour; dark rums are amber to a rich mahogany. Dark rum results from ageing the spirit from 3 to 12 years often with the addition of caramel, which gives it a very aromatic and rich flavour. 

The process of continuous distillation and rectification of the darker rums, produce the neutral tasting white rums, that lead the market today.

If there is truly an universal drink then that is rum - from slaves, to pirates, to smugglers, to sailors and soldiers, to wealthy planters, to the happening crowd of today, this drink has made a place for itself. In the popular mind the drink that was inextricably associated with the swashbuckling days of yore has now caught the fancy of the suave. Of all the spirits, rum is the most versatile; drunk neat like in the bygone days or used in exotic cocktails, it is fresh and refreshing.