Rum has a long tradition with Britain’s Royal Navy, and with commonwealth navies that grew out of it, including the Australian and New Zealand navies.
Life at sea was challenging, so we can only imagine how much those hard-working sailors looked forward to their daily rum ration.
Between 11 am and noon, a call of “Up Spirits!” would echo through the ship. This was the signal for all men to gather on deck to receive their “daily tot” of rum.
The original ration or “tot” was a half pint of rum per day. The officer in charge of distributing the rum ration was known as the purser. Mispronunciations of the name led to calling the rum “Pusser’s,” making it the precursor to the award-winning rum you know and love today.
The rum ration tradition survived Caribbean conquests, the settlement of the Americas, and two World Wars.
Pusser’s Rum is the only rum blended in exact accordance with the Royal Navy specifications last used when it discontinued its daily ration on July 31, 1970—ending a tradition that lasted over 300 years.
Pusser’s Rum is the product of stills located in Guyana. Aged for a minimum of three years, the rum is blended to create the ideal balance of naturally occurring flavouring compounds known as “esters” and “congeners.” Unlike most rums, Pusser’s is all natural and is never artificially flavoured or coloured.
The molasses used in each of the contributing stills comes from sugar cane grown in the Demerara River Valley—once the home of 300 sugar cane estates each with its own distillery. This geographic region has been highly renowned for its production and worldwide distribution of sugar since the 1600s. It is often referred to as the “Valley of Navy Rum.”
The Admiralty blend has been heavily influenced by rum distilled in a double wooden pot still of the Port Mourant, which first went into production in 1732. Although relocated and refurbished over the years, the double wooden pot stills continue to be the bedrock of Navy rum and a vital part of the distillation process that produces the superbly enhanced aroma and flavour of Pusser’s Navy rum.
Commemorate ANZAC Day with Pusser’s Original Navy rum and honour navy tradition.
Order Pusser’s Original Navy directly from Expedition Trade or your main wholesaler.