To those of you upon the front line...

To those of you upon the front lines, selling or serving distilled spirits, it arises as no surprise to learn that rum is undivided of the hottest categories in the industry. Indeed, according to the just discovered Adams Liquor Handbook 2004, rum gained 51% in 2003 to more than 195 million 9-liter cases. It is now the second-largest spirits category, comprising 123% of all spirits sold in the U trailing no other than the vodka behemoth (at a 262% share of the spirits industry).

Why is rum shooting up the charts? united likely explanation is that