Page 35 - Issues131-133

Rum : ron

I do not know when we last had an article on rum so, just for a change, here goes.

One advantage is that all the rums mentioned have miniatures that are available in New Zealand,
except the last one but it is a good story. Whilst not on the scale of the recent gin explosion or the
price increases of some single malt whiskies, rum is making a comeback. There are a few four
figure bottles around and one gets a mention in the article.

Pussers Rum takes it’s name from the Royal Navy sailors term for the purser. He was in charge of
the daily rum allowance which ceased on 31st July 1970, but carried on longer in the New Zealand
navy. One of the reasons it stopped was that drunk sailors could cause a lot of damage with the
intricate machinery that ships carry these days.

A United States marine,
Charles Tobias, kept
nagging the admiralty for
ten years asking for the
recipe and finally they
agreed. The rum first
appeared in 1980 and
Pussers pay a royalty to
naval charities. The most
common miniatures are the
two ceramics shown here.
There is also a straight
bottle and a 15 year old.
Alcohol levels vary from
86.5 proof to 95.5 proof.

You can still buy the original navy rum (they had big stocks). It goes under the
name Black Tot Last consignment. It will cost you around NZ$3000.00 a
bottle. Both rums were made in Guyana. Black Tot Day was the day the rum
ration ceased.

The Kracken is a mythical monster similar to a giant
squid. It was said to wrap it’s tentacles around a
ship and drag it down to the seabed. It probably
came about by sailors talking about the large squid
they had seen. As the newsletter has an educational
bent (amazing the number of meanings a simple
four letter word can have) I can confirm the correct
term is octopuses and not octopi. The rum was
launched in 2010 in America and has since spread
world wide. The rum comes from Trinidad and has
eleven spices added to it.

The Pirates Grog rum is full of mystery. The label
states it is an aged Honduras rum but there are no
distilleries in Honduras. The rum is produced in
various Caribbean countries and the brand is owned

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