Last Night's Tipple

Sailors have a reputation for drinking a lot. Nowadays, this is done ashore. Before 1970 in the Royal Navy (1862 in the US Navy) a lot of it was done on the ship. Royal Navy regulations entitled every sailor to a gallon of beer or wine per day. That's a lot of beer, and it took up a great deal of room aboard the ship. Not only that, but it would spoil or otherwise become unpalatable on long voyages. Captains began to substitute brandy, which had the dual virtues of taking up less space and of being immune to spoilage. After the English captured Jamaica in 1655, they had easy access to another spirit, rum, and rum gradually replaced brandy as the spirit of choice aboard Royal Navy ships. Because it was stronger than beer or wine, Royal Navy officials figured that a pint of rum was roughly equivalent of the required gallon of beer. Half a pint was issued in the morning, and half a pint in the evening; and the sailors were required to drink it all at once. Not surprisingly, this caused a non-trivial amount of drunkenness aboard the ship (can you imagine climbing up into the rigging in your bare feet on a rolling ship in heavy seas after having consumed a half pint of spirits?), and Admiral Vernon introduced grog in 1740. This was a mixture of rum, water, and lime juice. The quantity of rum issued did not decrease, but Admiral Vernon believed that watered rum was less intoxicating than full-strength rum. This mixture had the added benefit of introducing Vitamin C into the diets of Royal Navy sailors, which made them less susceptible to such common sea-going diseases as scurvy. By 1970, the rum ration was down to only an eighth of a pint per day. Parliament, believing the practice archaic, abolished it entirely in that year.

Pusser's Rum claims to be authentic Royal Navy rum. It has no added color or flavorings, a rarity in the world of modern rum; but what makes it truly unique is the way that it's distilled. Pusser's uses pot stills, but they're not like the copper pot stills of Scotland or Cognac. They're wooden. That's right: while the necks are copper, the body of the pots is wood. And it's not new wood, either. Some of it is up to 200 years old. Pusser's claims that using seasoned wood like this gives the rum a unique, full-bodied aroma and flavor. They're right about that. It's unlike any rum that I've ever had. Pusser's also claims to be the single-malt of the rum world. That's an accurate description, although perhaps for reasons other than what Pusser's intended: it smells and tastes more like a malt Scotch than it does a rum. It's perfectly dry, without the vanilla and molasses flavors that aged rums usually have. The nose is austere and musty. The flavor is, if anything, grainly and malt-like. I can't decide whether I like it or not, but it certainly is unique.