National Rum Day

How could TPP have missed this?  Somehow, somebody, somebody probably named Bacardi, or Jack Sparrow, named August 16th National Rum Day.  What nation?  Puerto Rico?  Jamaica?  Dominica?  In honor of this great holiday, have a nice mojito and read this nice historial piece about rum from Clio's Intemperance, a blog that likes boozy topics.  You might be surprised to learn that rum, actually molasses, played bigger role in the riling up the colonists against British rule than tea.  But if the tea party became the rum party, it would ruin a whole lot of drinking for me, so let's not go there.  Some years ago TPP toured the Bacardi factory and it's pretty interesting, a very integrated industry.  You raise sugar cane for sugar and molasses, ferment the molasses to get rum, but then you also get carbon dioxide.  Who do you think is the Puerto Rican bottler of Coca-Cola?  Did you guess Bacardi?  Funny how well that goes with rum.  Just add sugar, water, and carbon dioxide, which they happen to have plenty of.  Did anyone mention that they have a big tasting pavilion at the end of the tour?  At least TPP thinks he remembers that?