{"id":2155,"date":"2014-08-15T19:06:19","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T19:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maxrestaurantgroup.com\/blog\/?p=2155"},"modified":"2018-07-06T13:54:05","modified_gmt":"2018-07-06T13:54:05","slug":"saturday-is-national-rum-day-yo-ho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maxrestaurantgroup.com\/blog\/saturday-is-national-rum-day-yo-ho\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday is National Rum Day – YO HO!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"National-Rum-Day\"<\/a>by Brian Mitchell, Corporate Beverage Director, Max Restaurant Group<\/p>\n

Saturday August 16th, is National Rum Day!<\/h1>\n

Normally we do not get too caught up in all the National (fill in the blank) Days, but this one is right up our ally. \u00a0Rum is one of the top selling spirits in the world, and at the Max Restaurants we sell a lot of rum and rum-based drinks \u00a0– point of fact, our #1 selling mixed cocktail across the company is the Max Painkiller – a delicious rum-based, tropical TiKi styled drink.<\/p>\n

\"Max-Painkiller-Rum\"
Well Chilled Max Painkillers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So come celebrate a day dedicated to the tasty fermented cane spirit by joining us at any of our locations. \u00a0We will be serving up the Max Painkiller, as wella as Hurricanes, Beachcombers, Mojitos, traditional Daiquiri, \u00a0Hemingways, Rum & Cokes, Dark & Stormies, or any of the vast number of rum drinks our bartenders can concoct for you. (Nothing frozen, though – sorry.)<\/p>\n

A Little Rummy History<\/b><\/h1>\n

Fermented cane juice has been made in many areas of Asia and Africa going back probably millennia, but modern distilled rum production really dates to the 17th<\/sup> Century in the Caribbean.\u00a0 Sugar became a valued commodity in Europe around this time as it had been fairly scarce, but the opening of the New World allowed for a continuous source of sugar.<\/p>\n

A by-product of sugar production is molasses, which was not thought to have much use at first, but it was quickly discovered to be fermentable and then distillable.<\/p>\n

Rum became a popular drink in both the old and new world regions, and especially in Colonial America (primarily New England and New York), where the technology for making and maintaining stills and ample supply of wood for barrels meant a refined product could be produced (and consumed).\u00a0\u00a0 Molasses were shipped in and refined into rum, before being shipped back out and used for trade, often for slaves, which were needed to work the sugar plantations to make more rum.\u00a0 The Rum-Slave Triangle was formed by traders moving from West Africa to the Caribbean to population centers of New England and New York, moving \u201cgoods\u201d back and forth.<\/p>\n

\"rum-barrel-xxx\"<\/a>As rum was traded and shipped on the high seas it became a custom aboard naval ships, and eventually pirate ships.\u00a0 Traditions among the Naval powers of Great Britain and others lasted well into the 20th<\/sup> century with daily rations, and even continue to this day with special occasion rations being given out to service persons.<\/p>\n

Styles and Production of Rum<\/b><\/h1>\n

Rum is produced in many regions, but essentially there are three groups of styles, with variations or ageing categories within each group.\u00a0 These main groups are often categorized by the language or tradition of the colonial power that was in control of the original production areas.\u00a0 These colonial powers had favorite styles and from these grew both production and taste styles that more or less remain today.<\/p>\n