Looking for Rum of 300+ Years ago in the 21st Century

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sailor22
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Post by sailor22 »

So now I have this image of a non drinker sitting down with a couple of pours of Clarin and possibly some new make pot still product (all at barrel proof) thinking he's going to get a handle on the subtleties in the spirit.
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Capn Jimbo
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Sailor... this is what I was getting at earlier, and I agree.


With all due respect, it is certainly admirable for anyone to make a truly serious effort at a historical analysis, but honestly this has been lready done far beyond the interests of the potential audience. Except for the anal retentives (myself included) how many people even own Coulumbe's or Smith's extensive treatises.

Few, if any. Now as for CSP and his project, the best I can make of his goals is this:
"In my efforts to research period food, I've tried replicating what I can of it in my own home to gain insight into period taste and the time and processes required to make it. For instance, I started out making my own plum pudding (which led to producing maritime-styled puddings). It would be great if I could use something resembling period rum to make the sauce that goes over the pudding (because without a sauce, which period recipes for landside plum puddings recommend sack wine, the taste is nowhere near as good since the sauce appears to give the pudding a lot of it's flavor).

Period sources suggest to me that period rum consumed by the lower classes and sailors is probably going to be shocking, but I'm willing to try that just to gain the experience. I would also try to make some of the rum punches period sources talk about. If the rum happens to be regularly for sale on the open market, I would also be able to finally answer the questions I keep on getting/seeing online asking "what rum can I buy that Is also period correct?" I get a lot of questions about period material culture, including correct alcohol."
Now if this indeed is the goal, that book has already been written, and IS owned by many, namely "And a Bottle of Rum" by Wayne Curtis. Curtis is known for an excellent palate, is well traveled and respected, and a long time exponent and writer vis a vis fine spirits. He has the advantage of being an excellent reviewer and who knows his spirits well. As I mentioned before, it's hard to appreciate the original until you understand the modern styles to which they led.

To educate others on either food or drink requires that one be a competent lover of them, who has years of growing experience, et al. Frankly, I'm having trouble believing that this book is really needed, though I have great respect for any writer who is willing to put in serious time and efforts - for what will be limited interest and financial reward.

What do I think is missing? A real history of the origin of rum. Barbados has become the de factro source, but many recognize that Brazil predated them by a couple hundred years. The real truth is that both alembic distillation and the spread of sugar cane began in the Far East, moved to the Med, then the Canaries, et al, and then Brazil, then Barbados, and on. When is someone going to write a truly definitive book on the source which I firmly believe is either China or Italy in the 12th Century (both cane and alembics present).

CPS seems to be seeking to educate those who are seeking "the correct alcohol" for that period, in a sort of Renaissance Fair kind of way. I would venture to say that a mug of this original crude spirit would be the end of that interest, assuming they could even finish one.

The real "correct spirit" would better be one made at one's own hands, with a small homemade pot still with a simple worm condenser, using some naturally fermented horse feed black-strap molasses from the Weed & Feed store. It's not that hard.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/
And even more complete:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =15&t=5166
CSPHistorical
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Post by CSPHistorical »

"Now if this indeed is the goal, that book has already been written, and IS owned by many, namely "And a Bottle of Rum" by Wayne Curtis. Curtis is known for an excellent palate, is well traveled and respected, and a long time exponent and writer vis a vis fine spirits. He has the advantage of being an excellent reviewer and who knows his spirits well."

I actually just got my copy of that book in the mail today. It does look informative, and thank goodness he often leaves clues in his text as to some of his sources for the historical stuff. While not written in an academic style, it appears that it will be quite useful to my efforts. Also, just by skimming it a little, it looks some of his history work could use updating (it being now a decade of time since he wrote this, new information being available that would require changes to someone's writing is not surprising).

"To educate others on either food or drink requires that one be a competent lover of them, who has years of growing experience, et al. Frankly, I'm having trouble believing that this book is really needed, though I have great respect for any writer who is willing to put in serious time and efforts - for what will be limited interest and financial reward. "

There is an interest in it, by a small group certainly, but there is interest. No it won't be any huge financial reward either, I'm not expecting anything significant. This is the norm for academic writers anyway - a smaller audience that is pursuing knowledge for the sake of history studies and not just profit. I wouldn't have pursued this project if the response to the article on site about maritime food wasn't so significant.

My audience wants more, and since I have way too much material for just another 20-page article, I am writing a proper book. Also, I hope my efforts inspire others to dig deeper into food and drink history for this era. As people research this more, they find more new insights and maybe even new documents and further clarify our understanding of the past.
I suspect I should probably try and express my goals in another way so I don't overstate what I'm trying to do with getting modern day rum that is even remotely close to period - I severely doubt I could ever do what Curtis did, not by a long shot.

My book is not trying to be a "and a Bottle of Rum" or similar works - my book is more along the lines of Smith's "Caribbean Rum" or McCusker's "Rum and the American Revolution" (which I just recently received via interlibrary loan - and I'm surprised no one here mentioned this text yet, it's highly researched and covers a lot of rum history from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth century - Smith's work would be significantly set back if McCusker hadn't written this as a dissertation for his PhD). And again, rum will only be a part of the greater work - but it will be a noteworthy part of it since I foresee my audience wanting to know more about it than just a couple paragraphs full of information. After all, if you are going to read about maritime food and drink in the Atlantic World of 1680-1740, how could you not expect notable coverage of rum?

While written sources are great, I thought it would be beneficial to try and get the closest period correct rum to compliment my studies (and fulfill some other issues such as the previously mentioned recommendation request) - for you never know what new insights it might provide to have it materially in hand. When I studied the American Civil War history (ended up doing my undergrad degree at Gettysburg College, only college where you can minor in Civil War Era Studies), I engaged in reenacting and living history. Since I specialized in studying the life of the soldier, the reenacting was beneficial. I found I picked up on things I don't think I would have in period documents if it weren't for reenacting. Since reenacting supplemented my studies so well, I thought to try to do some of the same with my studies of maritime food in this era.

"What do I think is missing? A real history of the origin of rum. Barbados has become the de facto source, but many recognize that Brazil predated them by a couple hundred years."

That would be a good work as well. I bumped into that subject a few times in my survey of secondary sources. It looks like one of the most difficult problems is that period writings are extremely limited on the subject. It would take a lot of digging into non-English sources to accomplish something on that subject (and is probably another contributing factor to why Barbados gets more attention than it should for the origins of rum - the sources on it are in English).

"CPS seems to be seeking to educate those who are seeking "the correct alcohol" for that period, in a sort of Renaissance Fair kind of way. I would venture to say that a mug of this original crude spirit would be the end of that interest, assuming they could even finish one. The real "correct spirit" would better be one made at one's own hands"

At this point, you may be right about trying to make it myself. Would have to think about that though. As for the people who come to me asking about period correct alcohol - I wouldn't call them Renaissance Faire people. In fact, they are the sort that don't like Renaissance Faire people. A number of them try to do research into my period of interest in a manner similar to mine. Several of them are also of a similar academic background. The community of people trying to do living history of maritime activity in my period of interest is quite small, but they are out there, and I've been contacted by them on this issue and many others (including material culture issues).


I will say, the responses I've received to this inquiry has been really good at making me think about rum in a way that I wouldn't have otherwise. I feel that it is really easy to just gloss over rum and make large generalizations about it - you all have done a good job at demonstrating otherwise. You all should be commended for doing such a good job with this forum and its discussion of rum.
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