Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest—

…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Drink and the devil had done for the rest—

…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

The fictional sea shanty from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island captures an actual truth: pirates drank a lot of rum. (To be fair, they probably drank a lot of anything they could find, but rum was readily available.) And there is another truth: visitors to the Bahamas – and locals – also drink a lot of rum.

Rum is a liquor made from sugar cane, fermenting and distilling either juice or molasses. It appears to have originated here in the Caribbean sometime in the 17th century, but exactly where and when, nobody knows. The earliest written account is from 1651, referring to the island of Nevis and its “Rumbullion… made of sugar canes distilled.”

But regardless of when and where it emerged, rum quickly became the drink of choice for sailors, especially those in the Royal Navy, pirates, and slavers (who were often paid in rum in Africa). Oh, and it is also a favorite of Caribbean tourists, which is where I come in.

Here in Nassau, experiencing rum can take a few different forms. One can visit a distillery, try rum cake, or sip a local cocktail. So let’s explore these aspects of rum.

Visit John Watling’s Distillery

Arrival feels a bit like stepping back in time. This estate, just a few blocks from the waterfront in downtown Nassau, has been in existence for centuries, although the current occupant only dates back to 2003.

Free tours take about ten minutes and go over the basic history of the estate and the distillery. First off, John Watling has zero to do with the distillery, or really with rum in general. He, like so many who made Nassau his home in the 18th century, was a buccaneer. He was also a preacher. Go figure. The distillery is named for him because there’s just a little bit of heaven in every huge amount of sin, or, as my guide put it, because “Bahamians love two things more than all else: rum and Jesus.”

After the tour, it is time to drink. Tastings, sadly, are not free, but drinks are strong and not overpriced by Nassau standards. Sitting on the patio, which is shockingly devoid of crowds on a Saturday afternoon, sipping a frozen pina colada, life is pretty good.

Taste Rum Cake

Rum cake is ubiquitous at souvenir shops in downtown Nassau, and samples abound. But here is the thing: it is all packaged, and has all probably been sitting around for a bit. I don’t find any of them to my taste; most are dry, almost like dense pound cake.

I ask locals, when I meet them, where they go for rum cake. Is there a restaurant that makes a good one? To a person, they all say they eat it at home, and don’t know of any place that they’d get a slice when out. That doesn’t bode well.

But while walking from downtown Nassau to the “under the bridge” locals-oriented fish fry area (basically under the bridge to Paradise Island), I pass by the Bahamas Rum Cake Factory. So after gorging on conch fritters for lunch, I stop in on my walk back, just to see if maybe it is better directly from the factory. Well, it is. It’s moist, and deliciously boozy. I buy a small one to go, and even that is decent enough for a couple of days kept in the fridge.

So while the same brand can be found at stores, and you might just want to grab one to take as a souvenir, if you have the time to get to the factory itself, rum cake there is a much better experience.

Drink All the Drinks

Let’s be honest. This is the default. Those who come to the Bahamas largely want to sit on a beach sipping a rum cocktail. These range from more simple tropical drinks to $20+ frozen monstrosities served out of coconuts or pineapples. But what should you order?

Well, there’s the aforementioned pina colada, which while invented in Puerto Rico (click here to read about that) is on basically every menu here. Then there’s rum punch. Or there is the accepted national drink, the Bahama Mama.

Unlike the pina colada, there are really no accepted theories for when or how this drink came into being. But it really doesn’t matter. It is a simple cocktail of rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, and grenadine. It’s the grenadine that gives it a deep pink-orange color, which I suppose is reminiscent of the sunset.

I do have a few recommendations of where to get some cocktails, but first, a warning. Here in Nassau, bars, especially those catering to tourists, can be LOUD. Some pump the music so high that I can barely walk past, let alone consider sitting and having a drink. So the place on Junkanoo Beach offering four Bahama Mamas for $20 was out, as were any number of others.

For my money, John Watling’s is the best. $10-14 for a drink is in line with Nassau standards, and they are both tastier and made with better rum than their counterparts elsewhere. But their version of a Bahama Mama wasn’t to my taste. For that signature drink, I like Oh Andros at Fish Fry (the standard one just east of Junkanoo Beach, not the one under the bridge). They also have a Bahama Papa with twice the rum if it’s been that sort of day.

(One more note: Nassau seems to be totally open carry as far as alcohol goes, so while I’d make sure before taking yours to go, walking around while sipping seems completely acceptable.)

Rum and the Bahamas go hand in hand. Here in Nassau, you can experience it via food (rum cake), drinks (like the Bahama Mama), or as a history lesson at a distillery. Not a bad way to spend some time!

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