Rum in History- July

July Through the Years

1521- Spanish conquistadors found the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico, paving the city's streets with stones brought as ballast in ships from Spain.

1551-  English and Welsh alehouses are licensed for the first time (Ale Houses Act of 1551).

1588-  Lord Howard writes to the British Admiralty that "Nothing doth displease the seaman as to sour beer."  The standard beer ration per sailor was one gallon per day.  Beer would eventually be replaced by rum, which would keep well during long journeys.

1709-  Barbados has 409 windmills and 76 animal-powered cane mills, becoming the leading sugar producer of all the Caribbean Islands.

1791-  Congress imposes a 9ȼ-per-gallon tax on whiskey to discourage frontier farmers, blacksmiths, and storekeepers from diverting grain needed for food to use as distillery mash (and from competing with rum made in New England).

1824- The Royal Navy reduces its daily rum ration from half a pint to a quarter pint, and tea becomes part of the daily ration.

1855- Prohibition laws are adopted by Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, and the Nebraska Territory.