V!be
Rum & Music Festival
Rum...
'the Bad Boys' of Booze
Rum - the slaves distilled it, the pirates swigged it, and the planters knocked it back with a dash of lime and sugar. The almighty rebel of booze; rum! It became the Caribbean’s most celebrated icon and it is more superior here than anywhere else in the world. Cheap to produce and easy to transport, Rum became identified with life in the Caribbean. So it's no shocker that Rum is served everywhere in the Caribbean and any way imaginable. Rum has a rich Caribbean heritage, but other Countries such as Nepal and the United States too share in this bragging rights. A world-renowned group of tasters, chefs, connoisseurs, food critiques, and gourmands tallied their votes their choices of Rums from around the world and glass by glass, Vibe is proud to feature and share these ‘bottled’ passions ​ The Evolution... Fundamentally, the History of Rum is the story of a New World invention--hard liquor distilled from sugar cane and byproducts such as molasses - and its role in the European and African colonization due to the early 1400s day and the birth of the African slaves and tropical sugar trade. ​ Much speculation surrounds the origin of the word "Rum." Some say that it was derived from the Latin word for sugar cane, "saccharin officinarum." Others say it came from the English slang "rum bullion" - both denoting an uproar! In addition, the Malays for thousands of years have been producing a drink called "Brum" made from the juice of sugar cane. However, the strongest claims of all come from the Caribbean Islands. Alcohol stages a multiplatform that is deep and historical - 'social, spiritual, and medicinal'. These are some of the influences it had amongst early Europeans and Africans. During the colonization of the Caribbean, early in the 16th century, distilled spirits were not entirely popular but were available for some for personal and social uses and consumptions. ​​ Despite modern disapproving viewpoints to the contrary, alcohol was a necessary staple commodity to 16th-century colonists and the countries from which they originated, whether for safely ingesting liquids, experiencing religion or as a method of easing the pain of enslavement or distance from home and family.
The History of Rum
The Earlier Days ...
In 1650 and anonymous description of Barbados states, "the chief fuddling they make in the island is Rumbullion alias Kill Devil, and this is made of sugar cane distilled - a hot hellish and terrible liquor". Just 4 years later, in 1654, the General Court of Connecticut (New England) ordered the confiscations of "whatsoever Barbados liquors, commonly called Rum, kill devil and the like". This confiscation was to protect the distilleries in New England and is the earliest known recognition of Barbados Rum in the colonies. ​ Kill Devil or Rumbullion was noted as rough and unpalatable and could overpower the senses with a single whiff and would lay men to sleep on the ground! It was believed to have been a stronger spirit than any other in the islands and was used to cure many afflictions in the tropics - colds, tiredness and sunstroke were all treated in slaves by kill devil in order that these ailments did not interfere with their work. All these accounts coincide quite nicely with the introduction of sugar cane in Barbados which was brought to the islands by the Dutch settlements of Brazil and Guyana in the 1630's…and today, hundreds of years later...and vastly beyond the sugar cane, the saga continues.