The Bottom Line: Quick facts about rum!
The Full Story:
- Rum was manufactured, distilled, and made long before any other spirit. It’s history is a vast one filled with stories, and fables. It was the first branded spirit made.
- Rations of rum were given to sailors in the Royal Navy to be mixed with lime juice because it fought off the scurvy.
- More than 80% of the world’s rum sources originate in Puerto Rico. This is because of the sugar cane that is used in the product that comes from the area as well.
- The most expensive rum in the world lacks a specific name but more than makes up for it in price. Bottled in the 1940s by the Jamaican distillers Wray and Nephew, it contains blends that are believed to date as far back as 1915. The bottle was displayed at Europe’s first Rum Festival, and there are only four such bottles remaining in the world, which represent the lost tradition of Wray and Nephew. They are valued at a whopping $40,000 a bottle.
- There are three rum celebrations every year – Hot Buttered Rum Day (January 17th), National Rum Day (August 16th) and National Rum Punch Day (September 20th).