59 / 96
"The chiefe judling they mal{e in the Islands Barbados is Rum
bullion, alias Kill-Devil, and this is made of sugar canes distilled,
a hott, hellish, and terrible Liquor." 1651
Rum Drinks
From time immemorial rum has been distilled as a by
product of the manufacture of sugar in all countries
where sugar cane isgrown. As a liquor it became the ac
cepted beverage practically everywhere that strong drink
was in demand, and with the spread of its popularity all
lusty liquors, regardless of origin, were termed "rum."
In the early days blackstrap molasses, fromwhich rum
was distilled, was shipped from Jamaica, Puerto Rico,
Santo Domingo, Cuba, and the Barbados into staid New
England. True rum is a spirit distilled from "dunder"
and molasses. Dunder is t^en from the Spanish word
redundar, meaning overflow, and applied to the lees or
dregs of cane juice used in the fermentation of rum. The
word "rum" is an abbreviation of rumbullion, meaning
tumult or uproar—^not an inappropriate application!
North American Indians had their own name for the
drink—they called it "cootv tvootv," a sort of improve
ment on their customary war whoop.
Remember the ditty sung by the pirate crew in Robert
Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island?
"Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!"
Cuba holds the palm for producing the best rum, al
though staid old New England has made excellent rum
from imported blackstrap molasses since 1680, and Lou
isiana's sugar plantations today contribute their share of
excellent domestic brands. More than a century ago
Louisiana's rum masqueraded under the name of tafia.
There's naught, no doubt, so much the spirit calms as rum and
true religion." Lard Byron's Don Juan, 1819.
Fifty-nine