What do you think?
Rate this book
Short Course in Rum: A Guide to Tasting and Talking about Rum
From swashbuckling pirates and Caribbean sugar plantations to rum punch and trendy tiki bars, rum is one of our best loved and most historic liquors.
The Short Course in Rum began, naturally, as a look at noble, fragrant, complex, wood-aged the type of liquor that's served in snifters and consumed slowly, even reverently. Author Lynn Hoffman ( Short Course in Beer ) had the suspicion—maybe even the conviction—that rum was a serious, big deal sort of thing, somewhere above single-malt scotch and maybe (just) below cognac.
He was infused with missionary zeal. He was hoping to gather the rum snobs of the world to talk about esoteric little bottlings. He was a purist and he wanted to meet other purists and convert the uninitiated. When he started some serious tasting, what he discovered made him abandon the purist approach and embrace the wild and wonderful world of rum.
He discovered that rum has taken many forms throughout its history—Rumbullion alias Kill-Devill, Demon Rum, and more. He learned about the American Revolution, lush desserts, the sugar trade, the anti-saloon League, prohibitionists, abolitionists, and alchemists. He tasted great rum from craft distillers and incredible inventions from bartenders.
Inside you'll
•the world's best wood-aged sipping rums
•recipes for the best rum cocktails plus
•the secrets of creating your own great recipe
•the adventures of working in a small craft distillery
Lynn Hoffman discovered a world in rum and he invites you to sit down with him and share that world.
Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Good Books and Arcade imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of cookbooks, including books on juicing, grilling, baking, frying, home brewing and winemaking, slow cookers, and cast iron cooking. We’ve been successful with books on gluten-free cooking, vegetarian and vegan cooking, paleo, raw foods, and more. Our list includes French cooking, Swedish cooking, Austrian and German cooking, Cajun cooking, as well as books on jerky, canning and preserving, peanut butter, meatballs, oil and vinegar, bone broth, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
The Short Course in Rum began, naturally, as a look at noble, fragrant, complex, wood-aged the type of liquor that's served in snifters and consumed slowly, even reverently. Author Lynn Hoffman ( Short Course in Beer ) had the suspicion—maybe even the conviction—that rum was a serious, big deal sort of thing, somewhere above single-malt scotch and maybe (just) below cognac.
He was infused with missionary zeal. He was hoping to gather the rum snobs of the world to talk about esoteric little bottlings. He was a purist and he wanted to meet other purists and convert the uninitiated. When he started some serious tasting, what he discovered made him abandon the purist approach and embrace the wild and wonderful world of rum.
He discovered that rum has taken many forms throughout its history—Rumbullion alias Kill-Devill, Demon Rum, and more. He learned about the American Revolution, lush desserts, the sugar trade, the anti-saloon League, prohibitionists, abolitionists, and alchemists. He tasted great rum from craft distillers and incredible inventions from bartenders.
Inside you'll
•the world's best wood-aged sipping rums
•recipes for the best rum cocktails plus
•the secrets of creating your own great recipe
•the adventures of working in a small craft distillery
Lynn Hoffman discovered a world in rum and he invites you to sit down with him and share that world.
Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Good Books and Arcade imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of cookbooks, including books on juicing, grilling, baking, frying, home brewing and winemaking, slow cookers, and cast iron cooking. We’ve been successful with books on gluten-free cooking, vegetarian and vegan cooking, paleo, raw foods, and more. Our list includes French cooking, Swedish cooking, Austrian and German cooking, Cajun cooking, as well as books on jerky, canning and preserving, peanut butter, meatballs, oil and vinegar, bone broth, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
- GenresNonfiction
224 pages, Hardcover
First published February 3, 2015
3 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 31, 2016
This book starts out wonderfully. Lynn Hoffman has an engaging, casual style that draws the reader in as he lays out the basics of rum and its history. He gives a thorough accounting of the various types of rum and the development of the spirit as an afterthought of Caribbean sugar production. I was fascinated by the aging process of rum, and its similarities and differences from other spirits and wine. Now I know what solera aging is. The first half of the book is wonderful, but in the second half Hoffman goes off the rails just a little. He starts pontificating about prohibition and other social movements, pondering "What does drinking mean?" which he clearly feels passionately about, but the opinions expressed contribute little to one's understanding of rum. The recipe and cocktail chapters had potential, but the recipes consist in large part of re-using a single marinade in various ways, and the cocktails--with a few exceptions--by-and-large consist of drink recipes that will already be familiar to most readers (pina colada? mojito? planters punch? really?). The one area I was most interested in--small-batch, craft rum and the movement that is currently spawning such ventures--is mentioned in the first half during a fascinating examination of Dogfish Head brewery (and now distillery) but never returned to. Nomenclature for rum tastings are given, along with a guide to compiling a "rum tasting kit," but it would've been helpful to give readily available examples of excellent and not-so-excellent rums to use as a baseline. Instead, he opts for the "if you like what you taste, enjoy!" approach, which is fine in and of itself, but hardly equips the readers to discern what makes for a good, upscale sipping rum.
In short, I recommend this book, with reservations. Half of it is everything I'd hoped it would be, and the other half less so. In any event, it will give the reader a decent basis to tell the difference between the various types of rum on the market today. Beyond that, the reader is on their own.
In short, I recommend this book, with reservations. Half of it is everything I'd hoped it would be, and the other half less so. In any event, it will give the reader a decent basis to tell the difference between the various types of rum on the market today. Beyond that, the reader is on their own.
August 21, 2019
Started out OK with a history of rum, but the second half of the book was just a rambling scrabble of stuff about all types of alcohol and not really related to rum with a bunch of food and cocktail recipes thrown in. I never got out of it what I wanted which is a recommendation of the worlds best rums and why.
March 6, 2019
First half of the book is swelling with information but then gets completely derailed. Once the author starts to focus on consumption of alcohol it looses focus and interest. Found myself only skimming those pages and even when he switched back to rum focused info, I could not regain my interest.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 28, 2022
A decent enough intro to the spirit and its history. Goes a bit off the rails with sections on the social norms of drinking
July 14, 2016
Un contenu intéressant mais un livre laid avec une mise en page douteuse, des photos pixelisés et mal assemblé. Pour le prix passé votre tour.
July 8, 2023
2.5 A bit of fun and trivial. The author has done a good job researching rum and offers a solid and short introduction into the spirit. Worth the short read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews