Drink Like a Pirate Day

On Facebook today is International Drink Like a Pirate Day. I like the caramel coloured drink. It's great straight or mixed with fruit. My favourite rum drinks are the mojito and the caipirinha. Maybe I just like limes.

Rum has a long history in the British West Indies. I would venture to say rum is synonymous with the West Indies.

Some of the many other names for rum are Nelson's blood, kill-devil, demon water, pirate's drink, and Barbados water.1

Barbados water? Yes, Barbados lays claim to being the oldest rum producing country in the Americas.

So what am I, a man from the West Indies – the place where rum was first distilled from cane sugar and molasses2 – to do on International Drink Like a Pirate Day?

For my birthday my sister-in-law and her husband bought me the rock glass and ice ball. It's the perfect glass for drinking fine rums and scotch. A small amount of the best I have available – Mount Gay 1703 – swirled around an ice sphere in a glass designed to evenly chill that liquid seemed just the way to celebrate. Don't mix this rum with fruit juice on penalty of being made to walk the plank over shark-infested waters. Mount Gay claims to be the oldest rum distillery in the world with production going back to 1703. My friend +Mohit picked some up for me on a trip to Bermuda. Thank you, Mohit.

But before I could sip my libation I remembered that I needed a photo for my 52-week project. I also needed some practice with my strobes. I'm doing an action and portrait shoot for some martial arts – Tae Kwon Do – black belts next weekend and I know I need to get more experience with the lights.

I found a white sheet of craft board, placed it on a chair, positioned my subjects, and started firing away. It took me a few shots to get the lighting to something that felt good enough. Good enough for me anyway. I still need a lot of practice.

I downloaded the images to my iPad and did some minor post-processing in Snapseed. I used autocorrect and cropping features. I like the result.

Now back ta enjoyin' me rum, aaaarr! What is your favourite alcoholic drink?

Camera: Nikon D40
Lens: AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR
Software : Snapseed for iPad


  1. Wikipedia entry on the Etymology of Rum 
  2. There is evidence that something like rum -- a sugar wine -- was distilled in Asia. Check out The Tradition of Rum and the Sea on the Ministry of Rum website. 

Author: Khürt Williams

A human who works in information security and enjoys photography, Formula 1 and craft ale. #nobridge

5 thoughts on “Drink Like a Pirate Day”

  1. Really nice piece Khurt! HAPPY HOLIDAYS you Rum Swigging pirate of yore! chirps.

  2. Nice shot. White background is not too glaring and you can still see the shadows of the bottle and glass. None of the detail in the ice ball is lost. As for me, I'll also like mojito and caipirinha with a sight edge going to the caipirinha.

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