The most important about the ambassador of rum
The first large-scale distribution of rum beyond Caribbean borders was through the Royal Navy, the United Kingdom's navy. Various records show that as early as the mid-17th century, high-proof rum was distilled from sugar foam on the island of Barbados and drunk on French ships off the island of Jamaica. The Royal Navy, which was present there, noticed the lasting high spirits among the French enemy and decided to keep its own sailors happy in the future with the brandy, called "Kill Devil". Even today you can still buy Kill Devil rum. A century later, there was an official right among sailors to a daily ration of rum. In Europe, rum did not become more popular until the mid-19th century. This was mainly due to years of poor grain harvests and the resulting shortage of raw materials.
Rum - the accidental product from molasses
It was discovered by chance that a type of sugar wine could be produced from the by-product molasses. At the end of the 17th century, a spirit began to be produced from the alcoholic waste product. If you buy rum today, it is only remotely comparable to the brandy of that time. It wasn't until the following century that distilling methods were refined. On the one hand, the traditional pot stills gained more and more importance, on the other hand, the invention of the columnar Coffey stills revolutionized distillation. The continuous distillation process not only made the production of Irish whiskey possible, but also the production of rum.