Origins of Rum

R um is a liquor made by fermenting then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Most rums are produced in Caribbean (most famously Jamaica and Cuba) and North and South American countries, but also in other sugar-producing regions, such as the Philippines and Taiwan.

Rums are produced in various grades. Light rums are commonly used in cocktails, whereas "golden" and "dark" rums were typically consumed straight or neat, iced ("on the rocks"), or used for cooking, but are now commonly consumed with mixers. Premium rums are made to be consumed either straight or iced.

Rum plays a part in the culture of most islands of the West Indies as well as the Maritime provinces and Newfoundland, in Canada and are first mentioned in records from Barbados in about 1650. They were called “kill-devil” or “rumbullion” and by 1667 were simply called rum.

Originally, rum started out before it was even called rum. Way back before the word rum was recorded, there was a drink referred to as “wine sugar.” Wine sugar was most likely the beginning of rum back in the thirteen hundreds. While the word rum didn’t exist at the time, wine sugar most likely was very like the first official rums. It may have been something very rudimentary, but on a base level, it was, most likely, the rum origin. Rum in the early days served as a popular medium of economic exchange, used to help fund enterprises such as slavery, organised crime, and military insurgencies (e.g., the American Revolution and Australia's Rum Rebellion). Rum, the major liquor distilled during the early history of the United States, was sometimes mixed with molasses and called blackstrap or mixed with cider to produce a beverage called stonewall. In specific rum figured prominently in the slave trade of the American colonies: slaves were brought from Africa and traded to the West Indies for molasses; the molasses was made into rum in New England; and the rum was then traded to Africa for more slaves. The beverage has famous associations with the Royal Navy (where it was mixed with water or beer to make grog) and piracy (where it was consumed as bumbo). British sailors received regular rations of rum from the 18th century until 1970.

Most rums are made from molasses, the residue remaining after sugar has been crystallised from sugarcane juice. Where sugar industries are undeveloped, rum is often made with sugarcane juice. A low-quality spirit, called tafia, is made from impure molasses or other sugarcane residue, but it is not considered a true rum and is seldom exported. The characteristic flavour of specific rums is determined by the type of yeast employed for fermentation, the distillation method, aging conditions, and blending.

The heavy, dark, and full-bodied rums are the oldest type and have strong molasses flavour. They are primarily produced in Jamaica, Barbados, and Demerara in Guyana. Such rums are usually produced from molasses enriched with the skimmings, or dunder, remaining in the boilers used for sugar production. This liquid attracts yeast spores from the air, resulting in spontaneous, or natural, fermentation. The resulting slow fermentation period allows full development of flavour substances. 

The rum is distilled twice in simple pot stills, producing a distillate of clear colour that turns to a golden hue as the distillate takes up substances from the oak of the wooden puncheons used for storage during the aging period. Colour is deepened by the addition of caramel after aging. The Jamaican rums are always blended and are aged for at least five to seven years. New England rum, made in the United States for over 300 years, has strong flavour and high alcohol content. Batavia arak is a pungent rum produced on the Indonesian island of Java.

The production of dry, light-bodied rums began in the late 19th century. This type, produced mainly in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, employs cultured yeast in fermentation, and distillation is accomplished in modern, continuous-operation patent stills. The rums are usually blended and are aged from one to four years. Those rums marketed as white-label types are pale in colour and mild in flavour; a gold-label rum has a more amber colour and more pronounced and sweeter flavour, resulting from longer aging and the addition of caramel.

Straight rum is a popular drink in rum-producing countries. Elsewhere, rum is usually consumed in mixed drinks, with light rums preferred for such cocktails as the daiquiri and dark rums used in such tall drinks as the rum Collins. Rum is frequently used as a flavouring in dessert sauces and other dishes. It is also used to flavour tobacco.