While we love a bit of piratical nonsense, the truth is there's much more to rum than some wooden legs, eye patches and the odd parrot. But why the association between rum and pirates - and how can you break away from the stereotype, and switch your rum up into something that's less "yo ho ho" and more "yum yum yum"?
Did pirates really drink rum anyway?
Despite what the tall tales would have you believe, rum didn't really feature in the piratical drinks cabinet until the 1700s. Before then, wine and brandy would have been more common liquors, used by pirates to quench their thirst after a hard day's plundering. Interestingly, this means that priates who have inspired some recognisable rum brands - Welshmen Henry Morgan and Barthomew Roberts, both notorious in their day, were unlikely to have been drinking rum on a regular basis.
However, as trade routes opened up into the Caribbean, where rum was the local spirit, due to the sugar cane production of the islands, the increasing presence of colonising European forces, fighting amongst themselves, prompted an increase in rum production, climaxing in 1731 when the British Navy introduced a rum ration for the sailors.
The proliferation of rum as the spirit of the Caribbean as the result of colonisation meant that more became available - and available to plunder. But clearly, it's not just pirates who enjoyed rum, even in the early days.
The origins of Welsh rum
Not all the rum produced in the Caribbean stayed in the Americas - and despite the best efforts of 18th Century pirates, cargoes of this exotic alcohol started to cross the Atlantic to our wild Welsh shores. We take up the story not so much with pirates but with the infamous 'wreckers' - crews of shore-based men and women who would lure ships too close to the shore in stormy weather. Once foundered, these crews would plunder the holds for goods - spices, silk, exotic fruits - and alcohol. While we're not condoning the actions of these men and women, it's no wonder that when ships came over from the these warmer horizons, the locals got excited and wanted some for themselves.
Our fascination at the distillery has been about taking something and seeing where we can improve and make it better with our own 'In the Welsh Wind' twist. Our take on rum has been to cask age it, or to create our own distillates and combine with a top quality rum infused with the sunshine we so often lack here in Wales!
Welsh Rum for Sipping and Enjoying
While we can't deny the obvious link between rum and pirates, our interest is more about the inventiveness of our Welsh ancestors, taking illicit rum from those foudnering ships, and creating something even more magical with a sprinkle of Welsh imagination.
Take our latest limited edition cask-aged rum - Mauritian rum aged in a virgin oak cask it's rich and golden, full of raw banoffee sweetness and a lingering wood spice tingle. It's a rum for sipping, not quaffing; something to savour - romatic sunset optional! As the name suggests, this is a limited edition - once it's gone, it's gone. We have less than 100 bottles left.
In our Eccentric Spirit Co range, we have our Black Batch Rum - more of a spiced rum, which works well with a mixer (coke or ginger beer are great) and is delicious in a cocktail - whether a Dark and Stormy or a Daiquiri is your thing.
Both our Limited Edition Cask Aged Rum and Black Batch Rum are available on our Bottle and free glasses offer running at the moment - just use the Bottle and Glasses product, select your favourite rum and we'll do the rest!
