Hot Buttered Rum

This drink is a holdover from the colonial period in America, when the harsh edges of old-style rums were softened with the addition of warm butter, dark sugar, and spices. Made with the mellower aged rums available today, it is a smooth, rich, and soothing potion.

1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground cloves Kosher salt, to taste

3 cups aged rum

Serves 16

1. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar with a hand mixer set on medium speed until smooth, 1–2 minutes. Add nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and a pinch of salt and beat again to combine. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill mixture until ready to use.

2. To make 1 hot buttered rum, place 2 heaping tbsp. of the chilled butter mixture in an 8-oz. mug along with 1½ oz. rum and fill with boiling water. Stir to melt and mix ingredients; serve immediately.

Liquid Gold

Rum has always had a good-time reputation in the United States. Midcentury tiki lounges popularized the sugar-cane distillate in whimsical cocktails served in scorpion bowls, ceramic coconuts, and hollowed-out pineapples. Even so, rum is a spirit worth taking seriously. Aged varieties can be savored straight, offering a palette of citrus, vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, and stone fruit. Some of the finest examples are produced on the French Caribbean island of Martinique, the only source of rum with its own Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, the certification created by the French government for quality agricultural products. The parameters for rhum agricole are steadfast: it must be made from sugarcane juice; have a relatively low proof; and when aged, it must be stored for three to 15 years in charred-oak barrels (like the ones pictured). Until the nineteenth century, sugarcane planters in Martinique distilled rum from molasses, a byproduct of sugar production. But when competition from sugar beets depressed demand for sugarcane, planters discovered that a distillate could be made from pure cane juice at a lower proof than molasses-based rum’s, allowing the pleasing flavors of the cane to shine through. Capitalizing on this new method, 150 distilleries flourished on Martinique in the nineteenth century. Today, only eight survive, but producers like Clément and Neissen make some of the finest rums in the world.

—Wayne Curtis