Modern Caribbean Rum: A Contemporary Reference to the Region's Essential Spirit (Matt Pietrek & Carrie Smith)

At 850 pages, Modern Caribbean Rum is a massive book and the result of five years of work that required detailed notes, extensive conversations, and repeated trips throughout the region. But despite its intimidating size, the book is clearly laid out into four parts and includes some beautiful photography and excellent illustrations. From the outset, Pietrek and Smith specify that the book will focus on modern Caribbean rum, yet they do an excellent job of setting the stage in part one with clear and succinct chapters on the history of sugarcane cultivation, distilling, and rum classifications.

Part two provides an excellent primer on the basics of making rum, and part three provides an introductory course on the business of rum. All these sections contain lots of detail to help the reader make sense of the wide cultural, regulatory, and production practices that encompass Caribbean rum without feeling wonkish or dense. Lastly, part four details the 20 or so rum producing countries as well as the 100 distilleries and brands that are at the center of modern Caribbean rum.