Rum, a great party drink, can be a serious spirit, too
No spirit has as colourful history as rum. "It made some people vast fortunes and helped others forget their misery. It gave sailors and soldiers courage in battle; was at the heart of Prohibition and, in recent years, has been at the centre of international trade wars. It has become central to a Caribbean sense of place and self. No other spirit comes close to that," according to the British aficionado Dave Broom
Broom's enthusiasm is understandable. At its best, rum is amazingly rich and aromatic, packed with complex flavours. If you're drinking Bacardi's eight-year-old version or Matusalem's Gran Reserva, the most you should add to it is ice. At the other end of the scale, light, or white, rum is incredibly versatile and a perfect partner for fruit-based cocktails. There are four other types between these: golden, or amber, rum, which is a little older than white rum; dark, or black, rum, which gets its colour from being aged in charred barrels; flavoured rum, including vanilla and lemon varieties; and over-proof rum, an extra-strong spirit.
There are also many styles of rum, generally relating to the islands where they were produced, within those grades. So there is the refined Martinique style of J Bally, the heavier Cuban rums of Havana Club or the punchy Jamaican style of Appleton.
Rum, a by-product of sugar, has a colourful history. In the 17th century the newly discovered Caribbean islands were planted with sugar cane to satisfy surging demand in Europe. The crop was eventually controlled by the privateer Henry Morgan and other sharp characters, and worked on by slaves brought from western Africa. As the sugar crop grew, so did the syrupy waste called molasses that the production of sugar left behind. This was distilled into a spirit that the Portuguese called cachaça and the English called rumbullion.
Tradition suggests that rum originated on the island of Barbados. Regardless of its source, early Caribbean rums were not known for high quality. According to a 1651 document from Barbados: "The chief fuddling they make in the island is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Divil, and this is made of sugarcanes distilled, a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor."
Distillation techniques improved in time, and rum became very popular both in the new worlds of America and Australia and in Europe. A triangular trade was established. British and other European ships would head for western Africa laden with rum, guns and other goods that they would trade for slaves. The slaves then had to endure a hellish 10-week voyage to the Caribbean, where they were sold to plantation owners, either to work locally or for onward sale to the southern US states. The ships would then head back to Europe laden with sugar cane, which would be distilled into rum, ready for export, so the cycle could restart. As Broom writes: "Every spoonful of sugar, every bowl of rum punch, was made on the back of slavery."
He also argues that rum was the spark that lit the American revolution in the late 18th century. "Every part of American society drank - to excess by today's standards." When Britain tried to control the sugar trade - and so the rum trade - via the Sugar Act of 1764, it helped to prompt the reaction that led to American independence.
Yet, as Broom points out: "The excessive drinking that had helped forge this sense of national identity was stoking up other problems which in 1919 would result in the 18th Amendment to the very constitution rum helped to create."
This was, of course, Prohibition, a miserable failure that didn't stop the use of alcohol but merely drove it underground. And tastes changed during Prohibition: whiskey and gin were the new drinks, and, although rum made a comeback during the second World War, the heavy, dark, sweet style was essentially in decline, as was the industry.
There was one exception. In 1862, in the beautiful city of Santiago de Cuba, Facundo Bacardí set up a company that created a new, light style of rum. This would become the future of rum drinking. In time Bacardi would come to dominate the trade to the extent that its name is a signature brand: most people ask for a Bacardi and Coke, not a rum and Coke.
Practically the only place you won't find Bacardi is in its birthplace. The company and the Cuban government have been at each other's throats since Fidel Castro nationalised the
sugar and rum industries, in the early 1960s, prompting the flight of the Bacardís and other rum families.
The rum business essentially now has two tiers, with brands such as Bacardi doing huge business internationally while Brazil's 188 million people make up a very healthy captive market for cachaça.
Back in the Caribbean, some islands still have small distilleries producing powerful local rums, but few of these fine offerings make it on to high-street shelves.
Seven-, eight- and 15-year-old rums deserve wider recognition as serious drinks. Rum doesn't always need a Coke or a cocktail to make an impact. jbreen@irish-times.ie
Rum by Dave Broom is published by Mitchell Beazley, £25 in UK
MAKE A MARY
Daiquiris, pina coladas, mojitos and mai tais are well known, so, instead, how about a Mary Pickford, named after the silent-movie actress who apparently had a fondness for rum?
50ml Havana Club 3 Años
50ml unsweetened pineapple juice
Dash grenadine
Dash maraschino liqueur
Twist of lime
Shake the liquids together, then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the lime.