YO HO HO! RAISE A GLASS TO PIRATES’ FAVE BOOZE
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Rum is made by distilling sugar cane. Its name may have come from an old drink, rumbullion, or from glasses called rummers used by Dutch sailors. Different shades of
rum are down to barrel-ageing.
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Around 80% of the world’s supply still comes from the Caribbean, where it was first distilled.
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The world’s largest rum distillery, owned by Bacardi, is in Puerto Rico and produces 100,000 litres every 24 hours. Rapper Cardi B’s name is based on the brand.
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Sailors in the Royal Navy were once given half a pint of rum as part of their daily rations.
It was issued on board at
11am-midday with a call of “Up spirits!”
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The tradition dated to 1655, when Jamaica was seized by the British. Rum was a by-product of the island’s sugar-refining process.
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It was diluted by the Navy in 1740 over concerns about drunkenness and dubbed “grog”. The ration ended for good on July 31,
1970, known as Black Tot Day, over health and safety fears.
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A double ration of rum could be served before battle and the saying “splice the mainbrace” comes from extra rum given for hard tasks on board.
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Infamous pirate Captain Blackbeard liked a cocktail of rum and gunpowder. Pirates’ love of the drink was immortalised in Treasure Island, with the song: “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest, yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum.”
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Rum has gone by the nicknames “aguardiente” meaning “fire water” and “kill-devil”, as the harshness of old rum meant people though it had the power to kill demons inside you.
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Nelson’s Blood was another name for rum, based on the tradition that Admiral Lord Nelson’s body was preserved in it after he died at the Battle of Trafalgar… but that was actually brandy.
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In the 1800s rum was used as shampoo. It was believed it could thicken hair and combat scurvy.
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The oldest existing brand is Mount Gay rum from Barbados, established in 1703. Sixteen bottles dating to 1780 found at Harewood House near Leeds sold for
£135,000.
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Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes launched his Great British Rum distilled with exotic woods.
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Other rum fans included Lord Byron and US president George Washington.
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Cocktails made with rum include the daquiri, pina colada and mojito, said to be a favourite of American author Ernest Hemingway.