Sugar Cane

Just to be clear, sugar cane is nothing like cocaine. Sure, they both flourish in hot climates, have loyal fan clubs, and have hospitalised more people than small pox. But, they are fundamentally different; for one, sugar tastes better.

Back when ladies wore eight piece suits and men wore weathered frowns, a drinks company combined the two, and for 17 years, Coca Cola had a magical run of advertising free growth. Today, Government bodies consider it lazy to make your product addictive, they think that if you want people to buy things, you have to make them good. Which we think is fair enough.

There are lots of drinks around now. Most spirits can be made from vegetables, or left-over fried rice, but the best spirits are made from the best ingredient of all; sugar cane molasses.

When Christopher Columbus set sail for India in 1502, he discovered America, claimed it as India and then tried to pass his mistake off as a joke. While Columbus was busy discovering America like it was something jammed in the back of the couch, he also opened trade routes between Europe and America that are still used today. Most pass through the sunny Caribbean. And in the 1800s, when Conquistadors left the silvery hills of Europe in search of American gold, they instead found Caribbean sugar and their fortunes, by fashioning said sugar into plentiful rum. Consequently, Rum became iconic to the Caribbean, just like whisky to Scotland, sake to Japan and well…cocaine to Columbia. Sweet. — Tom Darlow