A spirit distilled either from sugar cane, freshly crushed, or from the fermentation of molasses, a by-product of the West Indian sugar-cane industry. The British navy gave rum a special status in alcoholic beverages by providing a daily tot to all serving sailors. It is drunk wherever sugar cane is grown, but the most notable varieties come from the West Indies.
While there are rum producers in places such as Australia, India, Reunion Island, and elsewhere around the world, the majority of rum production occurs in and around the Caribbean and along the Demerara river in South America. Some major rum brands include Bacardi, Bambu Rum, Barbancourt, Brugal, Captain Morgan, Appleton Estate, Havana Club, Stroh, Matusalem, Mount Gay, Bundaberg, Myers, Malibu Rum, Gosling's, Cruzan, Pusser's, Flor de Caña, Don Q, Coruba, Old Monk, Sailor Jerry, and Ron Zacapa Centenario.Rum is produced in a variety of styles. Light rums are commonly used in mixed drinks, while golden and dark rums are appropriate for use in cooking as well as cocktails.
Rum plays a part in the culture of most islands of the West Indies, and has famous associations with the British Royal Navy and piracy. Rum has also served as a popular medium of exchange that helped to promote slavery along with providing economic instigation for Australia's Rum Rebellion and the American Revolution.
In current usage, the name used for a rum is often based on the rum's place of origin. A ron añejo indicates a rum that has been significantly aged and is often used for premium products. Rhum is the term used for rums from French-speaking locales, while rhum vieux is an aged French rum that meets several other requirements.
Some of the many other names for rum are Nelson's Blood, Kill-Devil, Demon Water, Pirate's Drink, Navy Neaters, and Barbados water. A version of rum from Newfoundland is referred to by the name Screech, while some low-grade West Indies rums are called tafia.
History
Origins
The precursors to rum date back to antiquity.
The first distillation of rum took place on the sugarcane plantations of the Caribbean in the 17th century. Later, distillation of these alcoholic by-products concentrated the alcohol and removed impurities, producing the first true rums. Regardless of its initial source, early Caribbean rums were not known for high quality.
Colonial America
After rum's development in the Caribbean, the drink's popularity spread to Colonial America. To support the demand for the drink, the first rum distillery in the colonies was set up in 1664 on current day Staten Island. The rum produced there was quite popular, and was even considered the best in the world during much of the 18th century. Estimates of rum consumption in the American colonies before the American Revolutionary War had every man, woman, or child drinking an average of 3 Imperial gallons (13.5 liters) of rum each year.
To support this demand for the molasses to produce rum, along with the increasing demand for sugar in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, a labor source to work the sugar plantations in the Caribbean was needed. The circular exchange of slaves, molasses, and rum was quite profitable, and the disruption to the trade caused by the Sugar Act in 1764 may have even helped cause the American Revolution.
The popularity of rum continued after the American Revolution with George Washington insisting on a barrel of Barbados rum at his 1789 inauguration. Eventually the restrictions on rum from the British islands of the Caribbean combined with the development of American whiskey led to a decline in the drink's popularity.
Naval rum
Rum's association with piracy began with English privateers trading on the valuable commodity.
The association of rum with the British Royal Navy began in 1655 when the British fleet captured the island of Jamaica. With the availability of domestically produced rum, the British changed the daily ration of liquor given to seamen from French brandy to rum. To help minimize the effect of the alcohol on his sailors, Admiral Edward Vernon directed that the rum ration be watered down before being issued.
A story involving naval rum is that following his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, Horatio Nelson's body was preserved in a cask of rum to allow transport back to England. The pickled body was removed and, upon inspection, it was discovered that the sailors had drilled a hole in the bottom of the cask and drank all the rum, in the process drinking Nelson's blood. Thus, this tale serves as a basis for the term Nelson's Blood being used to describe rum.
Colonial Australia
Rum became an important trade good in the early period of the colony of New South Wales. The value of rum was based upon the lack of coinage among the population of the colony, and due to the drink's ability to allow its consumer to temporarily forget about the lack of creature comforts available in the new colony. Due to rum's popularity among the settlers, the colony gained a reputation for drunkenness even though their alcohol consumption was less than levels commonly consumed in England at the time.
When William Bligh became governor of the colony in 1806, he attempted to remedy the perceived problem with drunkenness by outlawing the use of rum as a medium of exchange.
Caribbean light rum
Until the second half of the 19th century all rums were heavy or dark rums that were considered appropriate for the working poor, unlike the refined double-distilled spirits of Europe. In order to expand the market for rum, the Spanish Royal Development Board offered a prize to anyone who could improve the rum making process. Don Facundo's experiments with distillation techniques, charcoal filtering, cultivating of specialized yeast strains, and aging with American oak casks helped to produce a smoother and mellower drink typical of modern light rums.
Categorization
Dividing rum into meaningful groupings is complicated by the fact that there is no single standard for what constitutes rum. Instead rum is defined by the varying rules and laws of the nations that produce the spirit.
Examples of the differences in proof is Colombia, requiring their rum possess a minimum alcohol content of 50 ABV, while Chile and Venezuela require only a minimum of 40 ABV. Mexico requires rum be aged a minimum of 8 months, the Dominican Republic and Panama requires one year, and Venezuela requires two years. Naming standards also vary, Nicaragua has white - ron blanco, lite, silver - ron plata, gold and dark - black label, gran reserva and the world famous centenario, with Argentina defining rums as white, gold, light, and extra light.
Despite these differences in standards and nomenclature, the following divisions are provided to help show the wide variety of rums that are produced. Due to the overwhelming influence of Puerto Rican rum, most rum consumed in the United States is produced in the Spanish-speaking style.
Spanish-speaking islands traditionally produce light rums with a fairly clean taste. English-speaking islands are known for darker rums with a fuller taste that retains a greater amount of the underlying molasses flavor. These rums, being produced exclusively from sugar cane juice, retain a greater amount of the original flavor of the sugar cane and are generally more expensive than molasses-based rums. Additionally, certain rums from the English-speaking island of Trinidad are produced from sugar cane juice rather than molasses.Cachaça is a spirit similar to rum that is produced in Brazil. The Indonesian spirit Batavia Arrack, or Arrak, is a spirit similar to rum that includes rice in its production. Mexico produces a number of brands of light and dark rum, as well as other less expensive flavored and unflavored sugar cane based liquors, such as aguardiente de caña and charanda.
Grades
The grades and variations used to describe rum depend on the location that a rum was produced. Despite these variations the following terms are frequently used to describe various types of rum:
Light Rums, also referred to as light, silver, and white rums. In general, light rum has very little flavor aside from a general sweetness, and serves accordingly as a base for cocktails. Light rums are sometimes filtered after aging to remove any color. The rum can obtain its flavor through addition of spices and caramel/color (a variation often sold as Spiced Rum), but historically gains its darker color from aging in wooden casks (typically oak). Dark rum has a much stronger flavor than either light or gold rum, and hints of spices can be detected, along with a strong molasses or caramel overtone. It is used to provide substance in rum drinks, as well as color. In addition to uses in mixed drinks, dark rum is the type of rum most commonly used in cooking. Flavored Rum: Some manufacturers have begun to sell rums which they have infused with flavors of fruits such as mango, orange, citrus, coconut, and limke which is a lime rum found in Sweden. These are generally boutique brands which sell very aged and carefully produced rums. Dry Rum: Dry rum is a rum made from the remains of sugarcane juice or molasses fermentation.Production methodology
Unlike some other spirits, such as Cognac and Scotch, rum has no defined production methods. Instead, rum production is based on traditional styles that vary between locations and distillers.
Fermentation
Most rum produced is made from molasses. While some rum producers allow wild yeast to perform the fermentation, most use specific strains of yeast to help provide a consistent taste and predictable fermentation time.
Distillation
As with all other aspects of rum production, there is no standard method used for distillation. While some producers work in batches using pot stills, most rum production is done using column still distillation. Pot still output contains more congeners than the output from column stills and thus produces a fuller-tasting rum.
Aging and blending
Many countries require that rum be aged for at least one year. While products aged in France or Scotland see about 2% loss each year, rum producers may see as much as 10%. As part of this blending process, light rums may be filtered to remove any color gained during aging. For darker rums, caramel may be added to the rum to adjust the color of the final product.
In cuisine
Wikibooks Cookbook has an article on RumBesides rum punch, cocktails such as the Cuba Libre and Daiquiri have well-known stories of their invention in the Caribbean. Other well-known cocktails containing rum include the Piña Colada, a drink made popular by Rupert Holmes' song "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)", and the Mojito. Cold-weather drinks made with rum include the Rum toddy and Hot Buttered Rum. Examples of these local drinks include Bermuda's Dark and Stormy (dark rum with ginger beer), and the Painkiller from the British Virgin Islands.
Rum may also be used as a base in the manufacture of liqueurs.
Rum may also be used in a number of cooked dishes. It may be used as a flavoring agent in items such as rum balls or rum cakes. Rum is commonly used to macerate fruit used in fruitcakes and is also used in marinades for some Caribbean dishes.
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