Drinking Forever: Daru (Rum) Poetics in Chutney Music

[...]rum as the by-product of sugar has a very distinct place in the minds of Caribbean people themselves, sometimes seen as an agent of release from the tribulations of slavery and indenture. According to Fredrick Smith, the British Empire created rum's market. According to his study, Kshatriya, the warrior caste, Shudra and Dalit, or the servant caste and those outside and reviled by the caste system, respectively, imbibed spirits (183). [...]during the British colonial rule, manufacturing of alcohol became restricted to licensed government distilleries, leading to the replacement of traditional alcoholic beverages to mass produced factory made products with greater alcohol content (Benegal, 2005). [...]under the British there was a slow and steady rise in licit alcohol availability and consumption (Mohan, Chopra, Ray & Sethi, 1997).