Rum Is Culture
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word culture as:
a) the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations, and
b) the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also: the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time.
Luis Ayala holding a snifter of rum
According to these definitions, knowledge about what people can do and how they decide to do it are intrinsic to their culture. For example, knowing what grains and vegetables can be cooked alone is only a part of general culture, but when a society defines how to cook and season them, in a way that becomes unique, its cultural legacy is increased and the identifying bonds among its members are strengthened.
Growing and harvesting sugarcane, to produce sugar, syrups and rum, require that societies –and the companies therein- carry out concrete tasks, but the manner in which these are carried out adds a cultural touch unique to each region. Take the sugarcane harvest for example: its completion is celebrated in Barbados as the Crop Over Festival, which culminates with the Kadooment Parade, making this activity an icon of Bajan culture. Another example is Louisiana’s Sugar Cane Festival, now on its 76th anniversary, which is an integral part of the culture of the state (complete with King Sucrose and Queen Sugar royals!). Even countries or regions where sugarcane is not grown are able to develop rum-related traditions, like in St. John’s, Newfoundland (Canada) where visitors can get “screeched in” (a drinking ceremony involving rum) at local pubs and earn “honorary resident” status in doing so.
To suggest that rum should be made the same way (only pot still or only columns, for example) around the world, is akin to suggesting that food from all countries should be prepared the same way. Variety (Rum Cookery and Drinkery, according to Trader Vic’s) is the spice of life and one of the reasons why rum has always been a versatile and inspiring distillate.
Celebrate your country’s sugar and rum culture by identifying how things are made where you live, then explore and enjoy the way the same things are done elsewhere. Best of all, exploring the rum culture of other nations does not require getting on a plane, often times a trip to a local liquor store will suffice.
Cheers,
Luis Ayala, Editor and Publisher