The history of rum is really interesting! French sugar plantations in the Caribbean started making it to earn money off waste sugar cane. Wine makers in France bribed the king to ban the import of rum, so it became a popular barter good, and in some places a de facto currency, around the Caribbean and part of the American East coast.
wooow, rum comes from sugar cane. That explains a lot
The history of rum is really interesting! French sugar plantations in the Caribbean started making it to earn money off waste sugar cane. Wine makers in France bribed the king to ban the import of rum, so it became a popular barter good, and in some places a de facto currency, around the Caribbean and part of the American East coast.
Which is why pirates had such ready access to it.
FYI, it doesn’t explain why rum is often sweet. That is explained by rum makers adding sugar after distillation.