Celebrate National Rum Day This Saturday, August 16th
A few weeks ago, I pondered if this was the Summer of Rum, but ponderin’ time is over. Go decorate the sugarcane tree, sing pina colada carols and hang your tiki mugs by the fireplace because National Rum Day is coming up quick.
Who designates these things? Who knows. But the authority thought this Saturday, August 16 was the right day. Not that anybody needed another excuse to mix a mojito on a mid-August weekend. Just in case you did, know that you'll be participating in a nationwide culinary tradition that dates all the way back to, well, at least last year.
I would have missed this event if not for the folks at Mount Gay Rum. They are to Rum Day what Butterball is to Thanksgiving. Produced in Barbados, Mount Gay claims to be "the original rum" with a pedigree stretching back to 1637. But Wayne Curtis points out in And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails that this is a matter of debate, noting that Barbados was probably the birthplace. True, you wouldn’t want to drink any of the stuff that they were making back in Blackbeard’s day, but rum producers have long since pulled their act together, and excellent aged rums, such as Mount Gay’s Extra Old, are some of the best finds at the liquor store.
Alas, my family will be traveling on vacation when National Rum Day rolls around, so no heading to grandma’s house to celebrate the boozy holiday. But to put you in the celebratory mood, look for a rum-fueled drink in this Friday’s Cocktail Concoctions recipe column. And if you miss out, don’t worry: Whiskey Sour Day is right around the corner.
About the author: Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.
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5 Comments:
It can't possibly be a coincidence that National Rum Day just happens to fall on the day that I'm getting at the bar at 11 AM for Liverpool's opening of the Premier League season, can it? My liver hurts already.
worldcupfever at 4:16PM on 08/14/08
YES! Time to celebrate with yet another bar of Ritter Sport Rum Raisin Hazelnut. Mmmmmm...it's National Rum Day every week around here
Pammeh at 5:04PM on 08/14/08
How did I not know the date of National Rum day?!
lisal at 5:12PM on 08/14/08
Mt. Gay Extra Old is delicious. If you like that give Cruzan's Single Barrel Estate rum a try. It is a blend of vintage rums that are aged for a year in a single barrel before bottling. Try either of these neat or with a little ice just as you would drink a good bourbon.
mrMatt at 1:56PM on 08/15/08
National Rum Day is arriving not a moment too soon.
After the long week I've had, I need some cause to celebrate, and I NEED something potent to celebrate with.
Maybe I'll make a rum cake, and sip a daiquiri while it's baking.
butterface at 3:48PM on 08/15/08