Today’s National Rum Day in the US, and a cold rum and coke with a little lime wedge is my favourite drink. (sorry beer!)

Here are some fun facts about rum:

  1. The first distillation of rum took place in the 1620s when Caribbean sugarcane plantation slaves discovered that molasses, a byproduct of sugar refining, could be fermented into alcohol.
  2. The first North American rum distillery was established in 1664 in what is now Staten Island.
  3. Hailing from Barbados, Mount Gay prides itself on being the oldest existing rum company in the world dating back to 1705.
  4. Other names for rum include Nelson’s blood, kill-devil, demon water, pirate’s drink, navy neaters, Barbados water, grog, and rumbullion.
  5. British legend says that Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson’s body was preserved in a cask of rum before being shipped back to England. Later, it was discovered that a hole had been drilled into the bottom of the cask so that all of the sailors could drink the rum before the cask’s arrival. Thus, the moniker “Nelson’s blood” was born.
  6. George Washington was quite the mixologist — he was well known for his Mount Vernon eggnog, which he fortified with dark Jamaican rum.
  7. Eighteenth century sailors were often paid in rum. To test the rum’s authenticity, they allegedly mixed it with gunpowder — successful ignition indicated authenticity.
  8. In hopes of preventing scurvy, the British Navy gave rations of rum to its sailors until the 1970s (but it was actually the addition of lime — i.e. vitamin C — that kept the scurvy at bay).
  9. The portion of rum that is lost to distillation over time is called the “Angel’s Share” — literally the portion given to the angels above.
  10. Bacardi houses the world’s largest rum distillery in San Juan, Puerto Rico.