As seen here earlier, I recently put together a trivia quiz all about rum. Here are the last few questions, along with my discussion of the answers. As before, I've obscured the answers by putting them in white text on a white background; just highlight the area between the brackets to see what's there.
10. I’m gently muddling a large sprig of mint with three-quarters of an ounce of simple syrup. I squeeze three-quarters of an ounce of lime juice into the glass, and add the spent lime hull and two ounces of white rum. I shake it, strain it into an ice-filled glass, and add two ounces of carbonated water. What drink have I made you?
[Mojito]
[Mojitos] don’t always have the best reputation among bartenders, but that’s a shame, as a properly made [Mojito] is an incredibly refreshing, wonderful drink on a hot day. (Even if Hemingway didn’t really drink them!)
11. Rum can come from all over the world and not just the Caribbean basin. Name the two countries that the rums Stroh and Bundaberg originate from.
[Austria (Stroh), Australia (Bundaberg)]
This question originally asked you to name the countries of origin of Barbancourt (Haiti) and Zacapa (Guatemala) as well as Stroh and Bundaberg, but playtesters wisely advised me to cut this down to a smaller answer set.
12. Perhaps the best-known item of liquor-brand swag is the distinctive red cap that is given away (never sold) by what Barbadian rum brand, to sailors in the regattas that they sponsor?
[Mount Gay]
I’m not really a sailor, but lots of sailors are really into the mystique and supposed cool of the [Mount Gay] regatta hats. I was hoping that “Barbadian rum brand” would lead everyone straight to [Mount Gay], as it’s by far the biggest brand from there.
The quiz originally included a couple more questions; as one tester pointed out, two questions were more about rum as a theme rather than as a topic, so they were the easiest to decide to cut. Here they are:
When comedian Morey Amsterdam visited Trinidad in 1943, he heard a calypso by Lord Invader that lamented US GIs debauching local women. Amsterdam brought it back to the US, removed most of its social commentary, and turned it into a chart-topping hit in 1945 by what familial singing group?
[The Andrews Sisters]
This song spurred some interesting copyright history of its own; check out the cases of Baron v. Leo Feist and Kahn v. Leo Feist, Inc. as well as The Rum and Coca-Cola Reader.
Elmore Leonard’s 1992 crime novel Rum Punch was adapted into what film released five years later?
[Jackie Brown]
Quentin Tarantino changed the novel’s setting from South Florida to Los Angeles and changed the main character’s name from Jackie Burke to [Jackie Brown], echoing Pam Grier’s 1974 title role in Foxy Brown.
So that was the quiz. As I mentioned in my recap, there's a world of great information on rum out there, including from Eater, The Ministry of Rum, Flaviar, and other sources. I relied heavily on the work of Wayne Curtis, many of whose articles I’ve linked to above and whose book And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in 10 Cocktails was invaluable. I also used Dave Broom’s Rum: The Manual, Ian Williams’s Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776, and Tom Gjelten’s Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause. (And I’ll pimp a few articles I’ve written, too.)
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