A Rum Story / Guest Blog.

Inspired by my contest my buddy wrote me a note to tell me one of his Rum stories, so i asked if i could share it with you, my readers. (Mind you this isn't for the competition--we are sharing. There is still a few days for that--so get your stories in.):


This is from a good friend Warren Bobrow. Warren is big shot writer, an enthusiastic spirits zealot and an 'all around good guy'. Here is his Rum story


A Rum Story, by Warren Bobrow.

My favorite Rum story is one that no one that I know of could have made up.. .because truth is always stranger than fiction.

 

I was sailing with my mom and step-father down in the British Virgin Islands on my family's yacht.  She was a sleek vessel.  Completely hand built.  When she pulled into harbor everyone would turn and admire her lines.  A classic that also could do nearly 18 knots in a good breeze.  Pretty fast for an almost sixty foot vessel.

We had just gone to shore for lunch and some rum punches.  Near the Pusser's restaurant where we enjoyed our Painkiller's down on Virgin Gorda there used to be a small bookstore.  Reading from his book, Rums of the Caribbean was Ed Hamilton who is better known as the Minister of Rum.  I sat and listened to his stories of pirates and buccaneers, of rum and revolutions- currency of Rhode Island Rum- and vast fields of Martinique Sugar Cane just waiting, patiently to be crushed into juice.

His appearance was that of a seasoned sailor.  I hit it off with him immediately and bought one of his books.  Ed signed it for me and I treasure it to this day.  After a conversation had passed we had to get back to the yacht.  My mom was readying the grill on board for dinner later on under the stars and there was plenty of ice in the sea chests with bottles of rum chilling for later.  

Another sailboat pulled in next to us and picked up a mooring.  The boat was obviously the pride of this sailor- hardened by storms and obvious travel around the Caribbean.  She was not a flashy boat, but one could see that she was loved greatly by the man who sailed her.  That man, as it turned out was Ed Hamilton.  My step-father, who was a kind and very generous man called out to our new friend and asked him if he needed anything.  Ed called back, no, but if we had some ice- he had some warm rum.  A friendship was born!  We had plenty of clean ice- desalinated and filtered.  In a place where water costs more than Rum- clean ice is worth more than gold.  My step-dad said to Ed that we had as much ice as he needed.  Our yacht had not one but two ice makers on board.  

My step-dad invited Ed onto my family's yacht and we spent the rest of the afternoon sharing sea-tales of down island, braving storms and yes… of pirates!  

And I made a life-long friend who to this day, will always tell the story of how we met.  Over a glass of rum and…clean ice.

The End?

My favorite part of this story is I met Warren through Ed and the circle is ever growing.

 

You can check him out at these places regularly:

http://www.wildriverreview.com/user/18

http://cocktailwhisperer.com/

along with these places:

Williams-Sonoma, Foodista, Voda, Drinking in America, DrinkGal, Served Raw, NJ Monthly, Okra Magazine, Saveur and dozens of others. Or, if your lucky,  at some local place enjoying a drink or a meal, but most likely both.