18. The Birth of “Alcohol Proof”, to Separate the Super Booze From the Weak Stuff
Jack Tar was keen on his rum and always wanted to make sure that he had only been issued the good stuff. To ensure that their rum had not been watered down, British Tars would pour some of it on gunpowder, and try to ignite it. If it ignited, it was “proof” that the rum’s alcohol content was at least 57 percent. If it failed to light up, then the rum was “under proof”. Thus was born the term “alcohol proof“.
The name survived, even as the gunpowder test for alcoholic content was replaced by a gravity test in the nineteenth century. A side effect of the daily rum ration was that, at any given time, much of the Royal Navy operated at various levels of inebriation. Rum and the Royal Navy became closely associated in public perception. When First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill was once challenged for offending some Royal Navy traditions, he derided those traditions as “rum, buggery, and the lash“.
