Bay rum
Template:Short description Bay rum is a type of cologne and aftershave lotion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other uses include as under-arm deodorant, fragrance for shaving soap and hair cream, as well as a general astringent.
Origins
Bay rum is a distillate, originally made in Saint Thomas in the Danish West Indies (and probably in other West Indian islands)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> starting around 1840<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> from rum and the leaves and/or berries of the West Indian bay tree, Pimenta racemosa.
John Maisch identified the leaf in the herbarium at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, collected in Saint Croix, "by the late Dr. Griffith", which was identified as Myrcia acris, now transferred to the genus Pimenta. Maisch added that it was "very probable that various species are made use of for the same purpose". An 1889 reference specifies that other ingredients may include citrus- and spice-oils, most commonly lime oil and oil of cloves. A drop of oil of cloves is added to two parts bay oil and one part pimento oil in one of two recipes for bay rum;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> the aromatics are steeped in alcohol and as a last step an equal part of "good rum" is added, and cinnamon.
Popularity
It was first made fashionable in New York<ref>Alice M. Coats, Garden Shrubs and their Histories (1964) 1992, s.v. "Laurus"</ref> and other American cities before it was available in Europe.<ref>"That it is little known in Europe may also be judged from the fact that it is not even mentioned in Piesse's Art of Perfumery" (Maisch 1861); George William Septimus Piesse, The Art of Perfumery (1857)</ref><ref>A recipe for bay rum from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy was included in The Pharmaceutical Journal (Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain) 23 February 1878:679</ref>
Rexall drug stores sold bay rum (example pictured) during and after the Prohibition era in the United States, labeling it as "for external use only", but with 58% grain alcohol it was often used as a legal, if somewhat toxic, source of beverage alcohol.<ref>Stills in the Hills, a 2012 exhibit at the White River Valley Museum, Auburn, Washington.</ref> A 1933 recording by Clarence "Tom" Ashley and Gwen Foster, Bay Rum Blues, references drinking bay rum purchased from the Raylass<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> chain department store in Gastonia, North Carolina.<ref>Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
Products
While the original Bay Rum was sold as a medicinal tonic and other companies produced alcoholic beverages based on similar recipes, that business became less popular after the end of Prohibition. In the decades since World War II, several companies have entered the market with soaps, lotions, after-shaves, colognes and other products based on the fragrance. Most of these products are marketed to men and are produced by labs in several West Indian countries, as well as American and European fragrance firms. Production of the original bay rum from St. Thomas by A. H. Riise commenced in 1883; the company continues to produce a range of men's products locally in the US Virgin Islands under the St. Johns Bay Rum brand.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Other producers include Caswell-Massey, Royall of Bermuda, and DS & Durga.
The bay laurel, the "bay leaves" in common culinary use, are from a completely unrelated species, Laurus nobilis, and not the West Indian bay tree. Bay laurel can be used to produce a similar, although not identical, product.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>