Rum, Bourbon, and the Distillation Tradition
I
Origin
The distilled spirits of the Americas — rum (Caribbean, built on the molasses of the sugar slave economy) and bourbon (American South, built on the corn agriculture of the slave economy) — are products of enslaved labour at every stage of their production. The specific techniques of rum and bourbon production were developed and refined substantially by enslaved workers, whose knowledge was appropriated without attribution in the same pattern as culinary appropriation documented elsewhere.
II
Description
The distillation tradition and its connections to the slave trade.
III
The Thread
—Ethiopian tej (honey wine — Africa's own fermented beverage tradition), West African palm wine (the foundational African fermented beverage), Mesoamerican pulque (same fermentation-as-cultural-practic
IV
Flavour Context
Not yet written for this entry.
Pillars V — VII
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