Rum is one of the world's most geographically diverse spirits, and one of the most misunderstood. This free course equips bartenders, brand ambassadors, trade professionals, and curious enthusiasts with the foundation to speak about rum with real authority.
Across six sections, you'll trace rum's history from Caribbean sugarcane plantations and the Royal Navy to today's craft revolution. You'll learn how molasses, cane juice, fermentation style, and pot versus column distillation shape flavor, and why tropical aging makes a five-year Caribbean rum behave like a fifteen-year Scotch. You'll walk through the defining regional styles: funky British Jamaican, lighter Spanish column-still, grassy French agricole, and emerging producers from the Philippines to Australia.
You'll also develop a professional tasting method, learn to recognize added sugar and caramel coloring, and get the serving framework to match the right rum to the right cocktail, from the Daiquiri to the Ti' Punch to the Rum Old Fashioned. The course closes with label literacy and market trends so you can assess age statements, solera claims, and transparency signals at a glance.
Each section includes teaching slides, flashcards for quick review, and a knowledge check. Roughly 30 minutes to complete, self-paced, and designed to be revisited whenever you need a refresher behind the bar or on the sales floor.
What you'll learn:Rum's history and the Atlantic trade Production from cane to cask British, Spanish, French, and emerging regional styles Professional tasting and identifying added sugar Essential cocktails and style-to-serve matching Reading labels and navigating market trends