The New Student's Reference Work/Rum

Rum, a kind of spirit made by fermenting and distilling the skimmings from the sugar-pans, when sugar is made from cane-juice. Enough water is added to the skimmings to produce one gallon of rum to every ten gallons of the mixture. Molasses is sometimes mixed with the skimmings, and a poorer quality of rum is made from molasses alone. The color of rum is given after distillation by adding caramel or charred sugar. Rum improves with age, and a quantity of rum, known to be 140 years old, was sold in 1865 for $15 a bottle. The best rum comes from Jamaica.