THE British love affair with rum is far older than the habit of drinking mojitos in the sun. Rum put fire in the bellies of the British Navy and pickled the body of Lord Nelson, although the sailors drained the cask and drank the alcohol before reaching shore.

The spirit also tempted James Bond to make his first drink in Casino Royale a Mount Gay rum with soda.

Thanks to its strong, fiery flavour, rum is more likely to be drunk in a cocktail than as a spirit to be enjoyed on its own. Now City Screen, York, in Coney Street, wants to change that.

This month, the cinema is holding York’s first Rum Festival, to tie in with screening Bond films on Sundays in June, starting with Dr No tomorrow.

Bar manager James Lorimer says that if it works, the festival could last all summer and be rolled out across the group’s picture houses nationwide.

“I have a passion for all spirits, but I have to say that rum is one of my favourites,” says James.

“Rum is possibly the most genuinely versatile of the spirits. We want to give people the chance to come in and try a few different types of rum. There will be different cocktails available, too. Who doesn’t want to drink a mojito on the terrace when it’s summer? Warmth naturally comes from rum; it is the essence of summer.”

James was converted to the merits of rum long ago. He can wax lyrical about light, aged and dark rums.

The dark drinks are the traditional Navy rums, he says; treacly, aged and sweet, with toffee, chocolate and citrus notes.

Light rums, such as Bacardi Oro, are best in cocktails, or coke and lime. The aged varieties, including Pyrat Pistol and Bacardi 8 Year Old, are for sipping. However, that is sometimes easier said than done.

“If a sip is too strong, add a little water to bring out the flavour a bit more,” he advises. “It masks the heat and takes away the burn that kills all the original flavour so you can taste much more. Quite a lot of people drink rum on ice and as it melts it brings out the flavour.”

We start our tasting session with Bacardi Oro, a mellow, aged rum.

“It has an almost petrol nose,” says James. “Light rums have that characteristic because they are still quite raw and not as refined as some, but still quite warm on the tongue.”

I don’t taste any of the flavours James suggests, until I add water and the overpowering heat dies down. With the burn taken away, I can pick out the citrus, and a tang at the end.

Next, we try the Pyrat Pistol. This rum is bottled in tall, slender decanters, modelled on the ones found on English sailing ships years ago, and furnished with the image of Hoti, the patron saint of bartenders.

You can tell it has been aged for longer, says James. “It is a lot more palatable, with more of caramel and toffee flavours and orange on the nose.”

Then it is on to the aged rum, Mount Gay XO. The Mount Gay distillery, at more than 300 years old, is the oldest known distillery of rum in the world.

The XO has usually been aged for seven or eight years, in charred oak barrels, and has won several gold medals for quality.

“It’s definitely a sipping rum,” says James.

“With a heavy, burned sugar sort of taste.”

Seven years does not seem a long time to age a spirit, but in the world of rum it is plenty.

“Rum ages faster than most other spirits because of the warm climate it is in,” says James. “Whereas you think of a really good whisky being 12 or 15 years old, a really good rum could be as little as seven or eight years. The warm climate speeds up the flavour coming out in the barrels.”

You also get a much higher percentage of Angels’ Breath, or Angels’ Share – the alcohol lost through evaporation during ageing.

“In Scotland, where it is nice and cold for ageing whisky, it could be as low as two per cent,” says James. “For rum, it could be ten or 12 per cent. That is why rum is so prized.”

Just don’t forget the water.

Rum facts

• Rum is thought to be the oldest distilled liquor in the world

• The British Navy was given a daily rum ration between 1665 and 1970

• The word “rum” was first recorded in Barbados in the 1600s and is thought to derive from the word “rumbullion” used to describe the behaviours of its drinkers

• Early rums were foul tasting and nicknamed “kill devil”. A 1651 document from Barbados stated: “The chief fuddling they make in the island is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Divil, and this is made of sugar canes distilled, a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor”

• The colonists in America consumed 12 million gallons of rum per year

* Admiral Vernon of the British Royal Navy ordered the naval rum ration to be diluted with water because it was causing drunkenness and discipline problems Disappointed sailors nicknamed it ‘grog’

• Rum was used to buy slaves in Africa in the 17th century

• Admiral Nelson’s body was preserved prior to burial in a cask of his favorite rum when he died aboard ship during the Battle of Trafalgar

• In 1800, rum was used to clean hair and believed to keep it healthy

from www.bacardirumcake.com