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      1595 engraving with modern watercolor of African slaves processing sugarcane to make rum in Hispaniola. © Everett Historical / Shutterstock

      And in 1523, another royal decree imported 1,500 slaves to Hispaniola and 2,500 to other Caribbean islands such as Puerto Rico and Jamaica. The Portuguese took their production to Brazil and by the mid-1500s, there were almost 3,000 sugar mills. The Dutch started taking sugarcane seedlings to plant on any Caribbean island they could. Barbados and the islands around the Dominican Republic were among the first. By the 1600s, rum in daily rations was common for the Royal Navy.

      In 1758, George Washington campaigned for the Virginia House of Burgess by offering free Barbados rum to voters, and he won. In the 1700s, the Caribbean Islands were losing money on their tobacco and cotton crops due to America growing their own, so switching to sugarcane crops solved this problem. Thus began a mass production of Caribbean rum.

      In 1810, the first hospital in Sydney, Australia, was financed by local businessmen in return for a contract that licensed them to import 60,000 gallons of rum to sell. The hospital was called Rum Hospital. In addition, in 1862, Don Facundo Bacardi began filtering his Cuban rum through charcoal.

      The Top Ten Things to Know About Rum

      1.Early America was funded by rum sales. In 1657, the first rum distillery was built in Boston.

      2.In 1664, a rum distillery was built in New York City.

      3.The Royal British Navy gave sailors a daily ration of rum from 1731 until 1970.

      4.Bacardi’s first distillery was in Cuba, not Puerto Rico.

      5.No one knows where the word “rum” came from.

      6.Eighty percent of rum comes from the Caribbean, but it can be made anywhere in the world.

      7.Rum is made from fermented sugarcane juice, sugarcane syrup, or sugarcane molasses, which comes from squeezing, cutting up, and mashing sugarcane stalks. To this day, in many parts of the world, the cane is still crudely harvested by hand with machetes.

      8.“Rum and Coca-Cola” by the Andrews Sisters was the number-one song in 1945. The most popular rum cocktails are the Daiquiri, Mojito, Hurricane, Rum Punch, Mai Tai, Dark ’n Stormy, Cuba Libre, Zombie, Planter’s Punch, Piña Colada, and Hot Buttered Rum.

      9.Barbados Mt. Gay is the oldest rum company in the world. They have held the oldest surviving deed, dating back to 1703.

      10.Brazil grows the most sugarcane in the world and has over 2,000 nicknames for rum.

      Types of Rum

      There are six categories of rum: light (also called white, silver, or platinum), gold (also called amber), dark (also called black), añejo (also called aged or premium), overproof, and flavored.

      Light Rum

      Some light rum is distilled and then poured directly into the bottle. This light rum (also called fresh rum) is raw. Fresh distilled rum contains trace amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas, which makes the rum taste harsh. This is probably close to the way rum tasted in the 1600s.

      Most light rum is aged up to a year in oak barrels previously used for aging American and Canadian whiskey. Aging light rum gives it a better taste for a commercial market.

      The most popular light rum in the world is Bacardi. Bacardi’s distillery is located in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and produces 100,000 thousand gallons of rum a day. That amount equates to filling an Olympic-size swimming pool in one week!

      Gold Rum

      Gold rum is light rum that has been aged in oak barrels until it reaches a golden color. The aging mellows the light rum, resulting in a light-to-medium-bodied rum. It is then filtered and poured into bottles.

      Dark Rum

      Dark rums are made from the thick black by-product of sugarcane called molasses. After distillation, they are aged in barrels.

      Añejo Rum

      Añejo is the Spanish word for “aged.” Añejo rum is light rum that has been aged. There are no guidelines for how long to age rum, so the process ends when the rum master determines it is ready. The result is dark, smooth-sipping rum. Añejo rums are compared to Cognac.

      Overproof Rum

      Overproof rum is just what it sounds like. To be considered overproof it has to be bottled 100 proof or more, which also means bottled at 50 percent alcohol by volume or more. The number-one overproof rum found in most bars is Bacardi 151.

      Flavored Rum

      Flavored rums are infused with a myriad of flavors. Almost every rum brand has a portfolio of flavored rums.

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      Other Things to Know About Rum

      Rhum vs. Rum

      If you find yourself looking at rum labels, every once in a while you will see rum spelled “rhum.” Rhum is short for rhum agricole, which just means that the rum in that bottle was made from fresh-squeezed sugarcane juice and not with by-products like molasses.

      Brazilian Rum

      Brazilian rum is called cachaça (ka-SHAH-suh). It is only made from fresh-squeezed Brazilian sugarcane juice.

      Navy Strength Rum

      When you think of Navy strength rum, think overproof gunpowder test. See, the Royal British Navy used to give sailors a daily “tot” of rum. A tot is about eight ounces (one cup). To make sure the rum was not cut with water (its strength weakened) they would put some rum on gunpowder and attempt to ignite it, and if it ignited, the rum was over 114 proof (or over 57 percent alcohol).

      Fun Facts About Rum

      ›Rum has gone by many names such as: Barbados water, demon water, grog, kill-devil, Nelson’s blood, rhumbooze, rumbowling, rumbullion, rumbustion, and splice the main brace.

      ›On January 15, 1919, at the U.S. Industrial Alcohol Company in Boston, Massachusetts, a cast-iron tank holding 400,000 gallons of molasses ruptured, creating a sixteen-foot-tall sticky tsunami through the Atlantic railway station, lifting a train off the track, injuring a hundred fifty people, killing twelve horses and twenty-one people, until it finally rested as a lake of molasses in North End Park.

      ›Bacardi has the largest rum distillery in the world, located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. If you visit by cruise ship, skip the expensive excursion to tour the distillery. Instead, just pay twenty-five cents to ride the ferry. You can see the distillery where the cruise ships dock.

      ›August is National Rum Month.

      ›Most rum is produced in the Caribbean and almost every island produces rum.

      ›Jamaica’s Wray & Nephew overproof rum is the world’s highest proof rum at 63 percent.

      ›In 1943, the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck drank cachaça, and in the same theater feature, Saludos Amigos (Spanish for “Greetings, Friends”) Disney introduced a new character from Brazil named José Carioca.

      ›The most expensive rum is a 1940 bottle of J. Wray & Nephew. It is valued at $54,000.