There’s no better way to celebrate pretty much anything than with a festive cocktail in one hand and a delicious baked good in the other.

A fire broke out at Long Pond Distillery in Jamaica on Monday (16 July) damaging production materials and buildings, and destroying approximately 65,000 litres of fresh rum stocks.

With the popularity of whisky and gin soaring over recent years, rum has been somewhat forgotten about – that is, until now.

About 2 hours from Joburg, on a farm along the R70 between Henneman and Riebeeckstad in the Free State, I joined the guys at Whistler Rum Distillery for their end-of-the-month jol. With a local singer strumming away, a Free State Sand Storm cocktail in hand and a big red sun setting in front of us, I took a sip and realised I didn’t know much about rum at all.

A week later I went to the Pan-African Rum Festival and tasted as many South African rums and cocktails as possible. Now I’m plotting my own cocktail mixes! But before I get ahead of myself, let’s go back to the basics of rum 101.

Poached pears sound so boring, right? In this recipe, the rum and the spices add warmth and great flavour to the light syrup, which is not overly sweet.

Rum loves citrus. From its best friend the lime, to flings with grapefruit, and the perfect marriage of mandarins.

If you’re a regular Sailor Jerry drinker, there’s a good chance you’ve been accidentally throwing out a collectible sticker every time you finish a bottle of the rum.

‘Tis the season to fill your cup with the season’s classic boozy dairy drink. It’s eggnog season, everybody.

Plenty of shows with cult followings like Game of Thrones have related tie-in products. Many fans would agree that the best of those are usually some kind of booze.

From the Quaker Oats Man to Ronald McDonald, characters used to advertise a food, drink, or restaurant are a staple of the marketing world.