Make sure you hold the date – August 10, 2012 – so that you can attend part two in our collaboration with the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society: “Wine and Spirits in the 19th Century,” Session Two: Historical Rums (Click Here to Learn More).

In preparation, I’ve been doing much research, tasting a bevy of rum from many of the far flung islands of the Caribbean, as well as a host of locally produced spirits… Tough work, I know, but someone has to do it and it might as well be me…

I think Wayne Curtis, author of “And a Bottle of Rum,” said it best: Rum is the history of America in the glass. Rum embodies the American laissez-faire attitude more so than any other spirit – Rum can be whatever it wants to be… Rum also owns the title of oldest, commercially-produced spirit, dating to 1703! Given this pedigree, you owe it to yourself to come and learn about this “most noble of quaffs…”

Here’s a tease of what we will be sampling at the event:

Zaya 12 year old – Trinidad Rum

• Sweet, caramel nose with vanilla, cocoa and orange peel essence – lovely. Smooth, with sweet chocolate, caramel, vanilla and butterscotch notes – very easy drinking.

Plantation Extra Old Reserve – Barbados Rum

• Intense caramel nose, sweet with light vanilla and floral hints – pretty. Smooth, creamy with a long smoked caramel aftertaste.

Ron Zacapa Solera 23 year old – Guatemala Rum

• Very light, spicy nose with floral and nutmeg hints. Smooth caramel with coffee and anise. Long, complex finish – almost Brandy-like in character.

Hurricane – Nantucket Rum

• Sweet nose with hints of caramel and vanilla. Smooth, creamy with light caramel and toffee notes – a trifle hot on the finish.

Folly Cove – Gloucester Rum

• Earthy nose with caramel and vanilla – briar wood hints. Light and refreshing – creamy with an edge on the finish.

I anticipate that we will taste between eight and twelve rums, accompanied by a nice selection of heavy appetizers to keep the ship righted…

Yo Ho Ho!