Rum: Not Just for Pirates Anymore
The waves swell mightily, pitching men to and fro. Deep in the bowels of the hull, the creaking and groaning ships beams offer up a dull cadence. The captain, hunched over a scattered pile of nautical charts, reaches for a dark brown bottle, takes a hurried slug, and goes back to work. That shot of “grog”, also known as rum, will keep his nerves steady for another hour or so.
That mood enhancer in a bottle has gone from being part of the British Empires daily issue to her sailors from the mid 1600’s up to1970 through to its current embodiment, a flamboyantly dressed pirate who shows up unannounced at flashy night clubs, bellowing a hearty “Please drink responsibly”. A heady marketing campaign has poured glamour into what used to fortify sailors, exposing it as a drink of depth and nuances.
This sugar cane based elixir gets much of that depth provided by wooden casks that many types of rum are aged in, where hints of vanilla pepper and spice are imparted. From there it is bottled and labeled with a kaleidoscope of colors and slapped with eye catching names, such as Big Black Dick Rum, from the Caymans, or more mundane monikers such Pusser’s, from Tortola and Jack Tar, from Jamaica.
From the trendy club staple “the mojito”, a Cuban submission of mint, sugar cane, lime, and white rum that was originally made for the sugar cane workers in the land of Fidel to the Hawaiian shirt and black sock crowd pleasing Pina Colada, with coconut milk, dark rum and pineapple juice, these standard cruise ship cocktails are the heady commercial side of rum.
Other more elusive and exotic cocktails utilize harder to find rums, such as Barbancourt from Haiti, a potent amber rum with a smooth, peppery finish or the Anejo style rums, such as Grand Anejo Ron Barcelo, a smooth, darker rum with hints of vanilla, which are aged longer than other rums.
A deceptively simple concoction of a 3 to 1 mix of ginger ale to rum, ice and 3 wedges of lime allows these rums to mingle with hints of ginger and lime, drawing the out the spices, though purists will scream when they see you Tom Cruise your way through this “Cocktail” that rum should only be served neat or on the rocks.
In the hunt for rums and how they are best served, here is a short compilation of some of the Caribbean.
Haiti:
Barbancourt 8 or 15 year- Fiery. Well suited for “the rocks”. 15 year is slightly smoother.
Barbados:
Mount Gay Extra Old- Intense, light spices, great mixed with ginger ale, lime and ice.
Jamaica:
Myers Original Dark- the original mixing rum. Brilliant in Pina Coladas or Planters Punch”.
Dominican Republic:
Gran Anejo Ron Barcelo- incredibly complex, limited spices and hints of vanilla. Great on the rocks.
As everyone’s taste buds are subjective, sampling and trying combinations will be the only true way to find the rum that suits your drinking style.
Suggestions from your friendly neighborhood bartender are another way to begin your own high seas adventure of rum tasting. But stay far from that wildly dressed pirate hawking cheap rum at parties. For his is an easy to find rum. And the adventure of finding rum is always best on the seas least sailed.
–Tim Connors, RED Editorial Staff.


Al Franken made us laugh when the cum laude Harvard graduate started as one of the original writers for the TV show, “Saturday Night Live.” But comedy wasn’t the first choice for Franken who realized he had a gift for satire when he made the second grade girls at his elementary school cry with his scathing parody of “I’m a Little Teapot.”
Returning home was natural for Franken because, in a sense, he never really left.