My love affair with Caribbean Rum

by David H. Lyman, Caribbean Compass
In 1979, I was on a two-week bareboat charter in the Virgin Islands. The boat, a Morgan Out Islander, was a floating Winnebago, but it came with a complimentary gallon jug of rum punch.

It’s been rum for me ever since.

Rum is native to the Caribbean, made from West Indian sugar cane or molasses, a distillate of sugar cane — so rum tastes Caribbean. West Indian rum is available clear or in shades ranging from gold to amber to black. Mix the amber with pineapple and orange juice, add a splash of grenadine, and the drink takes on all the colors of a West Indian sunset.

Back in the ’80s, when you could buy a 750 ml bottle of Mount Gay on St. Barts, duty free, for $2, the universal choice was Mount Gay and OJ. In more recent times, Cruzan Dark has supplied my daily ration — a reasonably priced amber rum distilled on the island of St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands.

My daily ration starts with a 24-ounce insulated Yeti coffee mug — it keeps the morning coffee hot and the evening rum chilled, both for hours. Drop in four cubes of ice, four ounces of rum, and top it off with 18 ounces of tonic water — a squeeze of lime is optional and a dash of nutmeg is nice. – Full report