Article by Emma Janzen
When Wayne Curtis’ book And a Bottle of Rum was published in 2006, it sparked a trend of spirit-focused books. Ten years and 14 editions later, we caught up with Curtis—also an Imbibe contributing editor—to chat about how the rum category has evolved in America since the book was released.
Imbibe: What sparked your interest in writing a book on rum?
Curtis: I wasn’t much of a spirits or cocktail drinker, but I was very interested in American history. I had been working for Preservation Magazine for a few years as a contributing editor, and rum just kept cropping up. I’d see it mentioned in connection to the slave trade, the American revolution, piracy, etc. I went to see if there were any books on it, and there was one from the ’60s or ’70s that was decent, but I thought it could use a more “popular history” approach. I thought it would be fun to spend a couple of years researching it, found an agent who agreed with me and then a publisher signed on, too.