In our last Dipsology entry, we covered the history of beer-making and some of the historical recipes being used for releases today. Next, we take a look at the next development in the new spirits world, as a more potent potable became the preferred drink in the developing colonies. It is one whose production may be regarded as a surprise for its location.
As we covered previously, the beer brewing kicked off here in the very early years of the 1600s, but as the century evolved, and the colonies slowly grew, another spirit became a quantifiable commodity. Columbus, during his early forays into the hemisphere, brought along with him samples of a crop to be grown in his newly discovered regions.
Dipsology: Beyond the Basics - Brewing Up History, Literally, With Founders Recipes
With his father-in-law being a sugar plantation owner in Portugal, Chris had access to stock to take along, and the Caribbean climate proved more than suitable for the grass derivative to prosper. And as is the human spirit, with most any crop, there derives the tendency to use it to develop a spirit. Around the mid-century, it was discovered on the island of Barbados that people were indulging in a product much akin to what we call Moonshine, a rough-tasting fluid referred to as “kill-devil”.
This was created with the unwanted byproduct of sugar production, molasses. Once discarded as a bothersome result of the refining process, this new spirit was the early version of rum. No one is certain of the origins of the name, with "rumbullion" long theorized as a possible source. While considered a rough product to consume, its popularity quickly exploded. We can thank the pirates.
The buccaneers were more than fond of the drink; ports of call had to service the crews, and rum also became a mainstay on their ships. As refining techniques improved and production spread through the region, the privateers would take rum stores with them, and the legitimacy of the allotments they were granted became challenged. To establish the rum on board had not been cut and diluted by shifty merchants, a technique was found using gunpowder doused with rum to prove it contained over 50% alcohol; this is how “proof” became a measure of the strength of liquor today.
The popularity of rum soon spread to the mainland, where alternatives to dicey water quality were needed, so beer and then rum were regarded as acceptable supplemental hydration products. It did not take long for rum production to begin growing in the colonies. As more imports of raw molasses were being shipped north from the Caribbean islands, used in various ways, from flavoring teas to being a cooking component, it soon became desirable for domestic rum production.
By the second half of the 1600s, rum from the West Indies was being imported at a high clip, and then the transformation was to produce it domestically. As the 18th century rolled on, dozens of rum-making businesses could be found in many of the colonies. Massachusetts at one stage sported over 60 distilleries of the product that today has mostly tropical connotations.
Rum production was a perfect symbol of the emerging independence, as old-school still-making methods were applied to what was a wholly New World product. In that way, it is more than fair to suggest that the revolution was fueled by rum. This further cleaved the wedge as Britain became angered by the economic independence and began applying more taxes on the importation of molasses, which, around the time of the revolution, was at a level of millions of gallons of the sweet sludge being imported.
Understandably, this became another rebellious flashpoint, as rum running in defiance of the crown was a common practice, and one engendered with a source of pride among the colonists. It is speculated that during his famous ride, Paul Revere may have stopped for a break and fortified his drive with some shots of the sweet elixir (as for Dawes and Prescott, we are left to guess...).
But the success of the Revolutionary War meant the demise of rum on our shores, and saw the liquid completely fall out of favor.
With the growth of the nation into the interior, new crops were being produced in the form of wheat, barley, and corn. These became the backbone of American-produced whiskey, and then bourbon, and rum was left aside. The spirit had all but disappeared from American glassware until it experienced a resurgence in the early 1900s.
But in its revolutionary heydays, a number of known cocktails made with rum were commonplace.
Callbogus was an early version of the Boilermaker, with rum mixed with beer
A Flip is a more complex version, with eggs and molasses added in, and said to be all mixed with a hot poker.
The Stone Fence mixed rum with hard cider.
Rattle Skull was comprised of rum, porter, nutmeg, and lime.
The Switchel, a common drink of water, vinegar, and molasses, was often fortified with rum.
A Colonial Rum Punch was so well known at the time that a common bromide was shared among citizens that amounts to something close to our modern daiquiri: “One of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak.” This loosely translates to 1 part Lime juice, 2 parts simple syrup, 3 parts rum, and 4 parts water, with all manner of personal taste preferences.
So, as you gear up for the 4th celebrations of our 250th, indulging in options involving the liquor of the New World is more than appropriate; it is a graceful nod to our forebears, and the liquid that helped us achieve independence for two and a half centuries.
