No, this isn’t a trick question. And, no, the correct answer isn’t “why not rum?”, (although that is a valid reply, if you be a pyrate!) No, me hearties, this question came to me very tired mind one eve as I was concocting a beloved Dark n Stormy cocktail with my equally beloved dark spiced rum.
Why rum, Ginny? Why oh why do I love rum so much? Is it simply because those who have pyrate blood in them require large amounts of rum in order to be coherent and useful? I mean, rum is like coffee for pyrates, right? Right? Captain Henry Morgan invented rum for pyrates, right?
Wrong. So very wrong, (and a little disappointing, I know). Captain Henry Morgan did not invent rum. Yes, there is a rum brand named in his honor, and his pop culture fame is most definitely thanks to those great commericals and sexy bottle designs. I mean, who hasn’t adopted the Captain Morgan rum pose, purposefully or not, after imbibing some of the good captain’s rum? Leg up, knee bent, hand on knee…you know how it goes. Just me? Oh, okay. Well, anyway…
The truth is that pyrates most likely did not adopt rum as their libation of choice until the early to mid 1700s. During Captain Morgan’s time wine, not rum, was the drink of choice. Most likely this was probably because, at that time, wine was the most often found adult beverage amongst a ship’s cargo. Be it Peruvian, Spanish, or French, pyrates loved their wine and found plenty of it. Of course, it’s also been observed that pyrates would drink ANY (and sometimes ALL) types of alcoholic beverages as they went about their business of plunderin’. Thus, we can surmise that the criteria for what pyrates drank had very little to do with taste or discretion. Rather, they drank whatever they found when they found it.
(It’s worth noting that there are some modern day pyrates that continue this long-held and sacred tradition. You know who you are.)
In the early 1700s, rum swept out of the Caribbean and into the colonies of the Americas, (North, Central, and South), and since it was much less expensive than wine, its popularity grew exponentially. As you might expect, rum became a frequent cargo for merchant ships. Frequent cargo for merchant ships = frequently pillaged rum = frequently drinking rum = frequently drunk pyrates = mostly happy pyrates.
Pyrate legend says that Blackbeard had his very own ‘special’ rum cocktail: ole Blackbeard would mix gunpowder with his rum and then set it on fire. While the drink was still aflame, he would drink it in big gulps until it was gone. On one hand, that image is so very Blackbeard and so cool, right? It’s even tempting to try and recreate it to see the effect. No? Just me? Well, okay, I would imagine the taste was just a little bitter. But, then pyrates don’t drink for taste…
So, to the question, my fellow pyrates, ‘Why Rum?’.
I think the answer is ‘because it was there.’
(Sources: My own experience and Pirates and Rum, Debunking a Myth Marco Pierini, “GOT RUM” Publishers January 24, 2022 gotrum.com)
Dark n Stormy Cocktail
Ingredients
2 ounces rum
1/2 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
Ginger beer, to top (about 5 ounces)
Garnish: lime wheel
Steps
Add rum and lime juice to a tall glass filled with ice.
Top with the ginger beer.
Garnish with a lime wheel.
DRINK UP, ME HEARTIES, YO HO!
Virginia Chandler 