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Rum isn't just a spirit that's used in cocktails, it's unique amongst beverages in how it has shaped world history. Rum has driven the creation of sugar plantations, played an important role in the Royal Navy, and was responsible for the growth of slavery and global trade. Today, it may have lost its global importance, but it has become an ingredient in cocktails and an important part of Caribbean economies. Learn more about rum's journey from an empire building byproduct to a craft made delicacy on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by Mint Mobile. Most of you might have something that you're saving up for. Maybe it's the trip of a lifetime, your children, your retirement, or maybe even something nice for yourself. And if you're looking for some extra money, the easiest thing you can do is to cancel your current mobile plan and switch to Mint Mobile. 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And I've also recently picked up a second cashmere sweater that I've talked about before just because I like it so much. The great thing about Quint's is that their prices are 50 to 60% lower than those of similar brands. How Quint's works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middleman so you're paying for quality, not brand markup. Everything is designed to last and makes getting dressed and decorating your home easy. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com daily for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada too. That's Quince.com daily for free Shipping and 365 day returns Quince.com daily. Rum isn't just another alcoholic beverage. It played a unique role in the economy and history of the early Americas that no other spirit can claim. Its history and impact on history are what set rum apart from other spirits, such as vodka, tequila, or whiskey. But before we get into the history of rum, we first have to understand the fundamental ingredient of rumors. Sugar. Sugar slowly migrated from Southeast Asia to Europe via the Silk Road and Indian Ocean trade. Columbus brought sugarcane trimmings, or saplings, with him on his second voyage to the Americas. Sugarcane requires intensive cultivation. It demands heavy rainfall and tropical temperatures. The Caribbean and West Indies were perfect for sugar production. Europeans settled on islands such as Barbados precisely to establish massive sugar plantations. Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, sugar was a rare luxury. It then became a necessity. In a span of just 150 years, in the year 1700, European colonies produced about 50,000 metric tons of sugar annually. Just 100 years later, it had reached 400,000 metric tons. The basic ingredient of rum comes from a byproduct of sugar refining. To extract sugar, mechanized mills crush the tall grass like cane between large rollers, squeezing out all the SAP. Planters call this SAP visu, a bubbly liquid that's boiled down to crystallize sugar. To make just one 5 pound bag of sugar, planters needed approximately 50 pounds of Visu. As only 10% of the liquid actually turns into sugar, the rest either boils away as water vapor or or remains as a heavy, non crystallizable syrup. As the water evaporates and the syrup thickens, it becomes molasses, which was originally just a waste product from sugar production. In our 50 pound example of sugar cane SAP, the refining process yields about six pounds of molasses. As sugar production grew, producers faced a massive logistical nightmare. What to do with mountains of molasses, a substance they had initially considered a waste product? Across the Caribbean, sugar production facilities had to dispose of nearly 50 million gallons of molasses every year. Planters fed it to livestock, forced it onto enslaved laborers, and desperately tried to cook with it. Attempts to brew beer with it also failed. Due to the region's climate, beer was often of poor quality. Fermentation temperatures were about 20 degrees too high, leading to a sour, vinegary taste. And despite their best efforts, there was just too much of it. The solution of what to do with the excess molasses came from an unlikely source. The very slaves who had been transported from Africa to work in the sugarcane fields. Sugar cultivation required a massive workforce and enslaved Africans became the indispensable core of both sugar cultivation and rum distillation. The people who were forced to work in the fields had a solution for how to use molasses. Anthropologist Marley Brown describes the contribution of slaves to the production of rum from molasses. These enslaved Africans brought with them millennia old knowledge of fermenting grains and palm SAP to produce alcohol. They were indispensable in developing the process by which sugarcane juice, or molasses, a byproduct of sugar refining, was fermented into alcohol and distilled. Producing rumors Fermentation occurs when yeast is introduced to sugar. The yeast consumes the sugar, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide. Molasses is about 65% sugar after boiling, making it easy to ferment. And yeast is a tiny fungus that lives on sugary fruits and plants such as sugar cane. Raw molasses is actually too dense. Distillers have to dilute it with water to achieve fermentation. And they also add two key ingredients to produce alcohol. First, they added the scummings, the heavier, nutrient rich foam skimmed off the top of boiling sugarcane juice, which was used to nourish and activate wild yeast growth. And they also added Dunder, an acidic liquid left from the previous distillation. Dunder lowered the ph and protected the rum wort. The mixture would then stay in open wooden vats for up to two weeks where airborne yeast fermented it into a wine like liquid. To convert this sugary wine into a high octane spirit, distillers then boiled the low alcohol liquid in a copper pot still. Because ethanol has a lower boiling point than water, the alcohol vaporizes first rising into the neck of the still and traveling through a pipe cooled with cold water, where it then condenses into a high proof spirit. After condensation, distillers would age the raw rum in oak barrels where the rum would gain flavor from wood tannins. In his book A History of the World in Six Glasses, Tom Standage described an early concoction known as Kill Devil. He notes Kill Devil was infinitely strong but not very pleasant in taste. The people drank much of it, indeed too much, for it often lulls them to sleep on the ground. It's a hot, hellish and terrible liquor. Early rum was potent but of poor quality. Given this description, it's hard to imagine rum becoming a global sensation. To improve rum's taste, producers experimented by blending it with other rums, thereby altering the flavor profile. Removing the unpleasant notes often required diluting the rum with distilled Water to try to tone it down. I once had rum straight from a still when I was in Haiti, and it was truly one of the worst things I have ever put in my mouth. There is a good reason why it has to be filtered and processed before it's ready for consumption. Despite its shortcomings, Rum gained immense popularity across the Caribbean. By the 18th century, rum consumption there reached as much as 13 gallons per person per year. One of the most sinister applications for rum was its use in mollifying slaves. Plantation owners intentionally rationed rum to newly arrived captive laborers to blunt the psychological drama of sugar slavery, Deliberately keeping them mildly intoxicated. Planters believed this constant state of inebriation broke their spirits and discouraged uprisings. Planters also handed out rum as a reward to slaves who had completed tasks well. The consumption of rum became a phenomenon Worthy of integration into global trade networks. Rum became one of humanity's first global products. Rum became a key component in the trade network linking Africa, Europe, and the Americas. What became known as the Triangle trade funneled valuable raw materials to Europe. Europeans had developed a strong taste for tobacco and preferred cotton clothing to scratchy wool and flax linen. Sugar became a necessity in Europe, Evolving from an elite rarity to a common commodity. The second leg of the network featured the slave trade, where slave ships transported human cargo from Africa. Slaves were transported from Africa to the Americas Primarily to work in sugar producing regions, and the final leg of the trade sent manufactured and finished products to Africa. And rum was an important part in every section of the triangle trade. Anthropologist Frederick Smith described the lure of rum along the trade network by Rum was both a prized ingredient in punch, Served at elite gatherings in Europe and the colonies, and an important trade commodity in Africa. Rum became a versatile substance that facilitated connection with the spiritual world and promoted group identity within enslaved communities. In fact, as demand for rum increased, it gradually became a form of currency across the network. Rum eventually became the most common currency for acquiring African slaves. Rum was basically the key to the entire triangle trade. Traders used rum to buy captive laborers, who then were forced to cultivate sugar, which yielded molasses for distilling. More rumors during the height of the Atlantic trade, rum production transitioned from the Caribbean to the New England colonies, Especially before the American revolution. It had little to do with profitability. Manufacturing rum consumes an immense number of trees. The Caribbean lacked the aging hardwoods of North America to fire up the copper stills. So New England began importing molasses and assumed control over rum production. The sugar plantations of the Caribbean did not shed a Tear over losing this production. They took up massive amounts of land that could have been used to cultivate more sugar, which was even more lucrative than rum production. It was on ships that rum began to change. By the late 17th century, rum had replaced water as the preferred drink on ships. For sailors, Water, the captain's preferred choice for obvious reasons, grew foul on long voyages. Beer was not an option on ships as it soured and high costs kept wine out of reach for mass consumption. Rum, however, was cheap, readily available and more importantly, beloved by sailors. To maintain strict discipline and to keep their crew sober, naval captains began watering down the rum to ensure order on ships. Captains also developed another powerful use for rumors, medicinal cocktails. 18th century British admiral Edward Vernon was concerned about scurvy Aboard his ship the HMS Burford. Vernon realized he could mix lime juice with rum and water to prevent scurvy. And his crew limes were plentiful and cheap in the Caribbean. But eating a lime raw is rather unpleasant. Adding it to rum with sugar is a different matter altogether. Vernon's concoction, which was called Old Grog, is perhaps the world's first cocktail and one that had an important purpose. Fortunately for the British, Old Grog spread and became a staple across the Royal Navy, solving an age old killer of sailors and ensuring continued British supremacy on the waves. Rum's influence gradually diminished over time. Disruption in supply chains during the American Revolution and the movement to produce indigenous spirits facilitated the transition in North America to whiskey. The French and Indian war period also saw the end of a trade system that had long benefited colonial merchants, leading to more stringent British trade controls and thereby giving localized grain based whiskey production yet another advantage. Finally, the abolition of slavery in the 19th century sounded the death knell for the industry, permanently disrupting traditional sugar and molasses supply chains. Rum began to make a comeback in the 20th century, particularly after the repeal of prohibition when pent up frustration led to more widespread cocktail production. Equally important for rum enthusiasts, Cuba established a very friendly relationship with American business interests, thereby increasing rum supply and quality. The Cuba Libre was created after the Spanish American War when American Coca Cola was mixed with Cuban rum. The Royal Navy kept issuing rum every day until the 1970s. The last rum allotment took place on July 31, 1970, a day known as Black Tot Day, which I covered in a previous episode. America's sudden obsession with vodka briefly derailed rum's upward climb. But interest came roaring back in the 1980s, driven by industrial rum production led by brands such as Captain Morgan, Bacardi and Malibu. Today, rum occupies a new craft rums, which distillers brew from single plantation sugar and age in specific barrels to impart unique flavors. Distillers can manipulate rum production by adding unique flavors and esters, just as whiskey manufacturers do. The story of rum began as just a byproduct of sugar, but it became something much larger. As one of the world's first truly global products, rum has left a deep impact on world history. Rum contributed to the explosion of sugar production, facilitated the expansion of slavery and expanded trade routes around the Atlantic Ocean, which is not too bad for something that most people today simply associate with fruity cocktails. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided by Joel Hermanson. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord, as this is where everything happens outside of the podcast. As always, if you leave a review on any of the major podcast apps, you too can have it running the show.