If I had a dime for every time a customer approached our booth at a Farmers’ Market or event and asked, “Rum? Really, in Vermont? I thought that was an Island thing” I would have more dimes than the number of rum distilleries in New England around 1770 (it was a lot) . Bad jokes aside, it does raise an interesting point that it would appear not a lot of people know, or remember New England’s history. So as the trivia nerd I am, let's go over some of the basics and dig up some hundreds of years old rum recipes you can make to sip around the fire this stick season.
Widespread exploitation of slave labor to process cane sugar resulted in a surplus of Molasses – that dark, smoky byproduct born from refined cane sugar – which was a ubiquitous flavor of New England life and found in everything from baked beans to humble brown bread. And, of course, rum. By the middle of the 17th century, Rhode Island boasted more than two dozen distilleries and Massachusetts had over sixty. Essentially, stills were built wherever molasses was brought to shore. The rapid growth and success of Rum production depended on more than stills: cooperages made vessels, ironworkers supplied equipment, logging provided timber, shipbuilding and shipping moved materials and goods, and commercial networks connected production to markets. During this time period New England produced more than 40% of the total rum distilled in North America, more than 2 million gallons in a year. Some wild historical elements that resulted from this boom that I’d encourage you to read about are, The Great Molasses Flood of Boston, and the Molasses Act/Sugar Acts (preceding the events of the Tea Act and Boston Tea Party).
Rarely consumed plain – or neat as we say today – rum was often combined with all manner of tonics including spring water, citrus juices, freshly grated spices, light and dark beers, warmed through with cream, hot butter, or whipped into a frenzy with eggs. And recipes varied from tavern to tavern and house to house. A stone-fence combined rum and hard cider, a rattle-skull with porter, lime, and nutmeg. A flip was made with rum, beer, molasses, and eggs, and stirred altogether with a red-hot fire poker. A callbogus mixed cold rum and beer, a drink called blackstrap was sweetened with more molasses, while switchel, made with vinegar, molasses, and water, became a stronger drink when liberally fortified with rum. Recipes for infamously intoxicating punch were handed down through the generations with a few simple lines of rhyme: “one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak.” Here’s a couple high octane standouts to have this winter with our Molasses based spirits here at STJD:
Stone Fence: 2 oz Brendan’s Spiced Rum, splash of bitters, 8 oz hard cider (try with regular cold pressed cider for a sweeter and more tempered variation)
Rattleskull: 3 oz Backwoods Reserve Rum, 1 oz Brandy, juice from ½ a lime, 12 oz New England porter (In cold months they’d warm the porter up with a hot iron rod) freshly grated nutmeg on top - serves 2-4
Written by Greg Piper
