1953 The U K B G Guide to Drinks

RUM

This is the name given to a large variety of types of spirit which are derived from the sugar cane. In 1909 a definition was accepted by the "Royal Commission on Whisky and other potable spirits This alluded to Rum as"A spirit distilled direct from sugar cane products in sugar cane growing countries However, the Rum or products sold as Rum,are produced in almost every country where the sugar cane is grown and in some where it is not. Sugar is grown in the British West Indies, Cuba,French West Indies, Haiti, Argentine, Peru, Mauritius, Queens land, Natal, Java and India, and therefore any spirit coming from the sugar cane produced in any of these places is entitled to call its product Rum. The name of"Rum"however wassaid to have originally been used to describe the product of the British West Indies. The name"Rumbullion"is said to have been given to the product by the people of Devon,it being a term used in that county. A raw spirit was produced in the B.W.I,as early as 1647 but this drink was chiefly the drink of the slaves of the plantations at that time. But the early "Rumbullion"or "Kill-DeviU" as it was known was developed into the drink we know to-day. The sugar cane is stripped of its leaves and is crushed so that the juice produced from this process is collected in vacuum pans, where the water of the juice is evaporated and leaves behind a S5crup which eventually granulates. When this is granulated sufficiently it is placed in huge drums which revolve rapidly thus extracting a thick sticky substance known as molasses from the sugar, and which it leaves behind. This molasses is again reboiled, producing a lower grade of sugar, and the extraction under this second process of production of molasses is used for Rum distilling. It is first mixed with water and fermenting agents, depending upon the area of production. Some areas use the yeasts produced from previous production. This Wash, 241