Long the poison of brutish pirates and drunken sailors, rum was traditionally a cheap booze imbibed far less for its flavour than its heady effect.

From cane to bottle

• Rum is believed to be the world's oldest distilled alcoholic drink
• 'Rum' may be an abbreviation of 'rumbullion' or 'rumbustion', 17th Century British slang meaning tumult or uproar
• Historical accounts link rum-like drinks to Cyprus, Persia and the Far East
• Modern rum is said to have been discovered by slaves on Caribbean sugar plantations who found molasses could be fermented into alcohol
• Before it was replaced by rum, a Royal Navy sailor's daily ration of alcohol was a gallon of beer
• Maturing or 'ageing' rum in barrels helps develop its colour and flavour, a process which happens faster in the Caribbean's tropical climate