Molasses is a sticky syrup amount of sugar when it was mixed with water and left out in the sun it would ferment. By the 1650s this former waste product was being distilled into a spirit.
In the English it was called Kill Devil (from its tendency to cause a nasty hangover) or Rumbullion (origins uncertain), which was shortened over the years to our modern word “Rum”. The French render this word as Rhum, while the Spanish call it Rum.
In the English it was called Kill Devil (from its tendency to cause a nasty hangover) or Rumbullion (origins uncertain), which was shortened over the years to our modern word “Rum”. The French render this word as Rhum, while the Spanish call it Rum.