An Interview with Uncle Richard

Glynn: I understand you recently returned to Barbados to see how rum has matured since 1647.

Uncle Richard: Yes, the kill-divell has really evolved in three centuries.

Glynn: You were the first to write about rum in your book A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbados.  In fact, the rum you encountered in Barbados in 1647 was the first ever distilled.

Uncle Richard: That’s what I hear.  The natives called it kill-divell and boiled it in copper pots using their locally grown sugar cane.  I see the process is a bit more refined, so to speak, these days.

Glynn: Could you English gents stand to drink the local kill-divell?

Uncle Richard: On weekends, and when we did, it didn’t take much of the Devil’s killer brew to finish us off.  Remember, the natives didn’t put their rum away in barrels for 20 years to age it, so there was quite a bite to it.

Glynn: Now I want you to try some Mount Gay Extra Old from Barbados, mixed in what we call today Caffeine-Free Diet Coke on the rocks.  That means it has ice in it.  This is my preferred concoction. There wasn’t any ice to put in drinks in Barbados in 1647 was there?

Uncle Richard: Wow, that’s really chilly.  Where’s the kill-divell taste?  That stuff’s quite tame.  If I could have taken that mixture back to England, the Queen would have knighted me. 

Glynn: What did you think of the local kill-divell?

Uncle Richard: I would have included much more about it in my book if I had any notion future generations would find this at all interesting.  I had quite a fascination for the kill-divell. Around the island, there were several native families that made the brew.  My buddies depended upon me to give them my inside rating each month of the best batch out on the street.  I posted a flier at the local dry goods each month. 

Glynn: No kidding?  That post was the first rum blog. 

Uncle Richard: What’s a blog?