{"id":2468,"date":"2015-05-13T00:56:03","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T06:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/?p=2468"},"modified":"2015-05-13T02:48:42","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T08:48:42","slug":"saluting-the-captain-on-what-probably-is-not-his-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brutalhammer.com\/saluting-the-captain-on-what-probably-is-not-his-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Saluting the Captain, on What Probably Is Not His Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"
Captain Morgan (the liquor company) claims that Captain Morgan (the real 17th-century pirate) was born on May 15th. At least that’s what they said in 2010<\/a>, when the company launched an elaborate<\/a> advertising campaign encouraging drinkers to celebrate the Captain’s “375-ish birthday.” How they pinpointed the month and date of his birth when even the year is uncertain remains a mystery.<\/p>\n What is known for sure is that Captain Morgan Rum was launched in 1944 as a division of Seagram’s. For the next 40 years it limped along, barely surviving, until it was reborn in 1983 as a so-called “spiced rum,” the first ever of its kind. The “spice” added was vanilla, which was chosen for no better reason than that it worked well as a mixer. (Writer Arthur Shapiro, who was a marketer for Seagram’s at the time, tells the whole story here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Spiced rum is just flavored rum by another name, but that simple word change made the product sound exotic. The marketing geniuses also came up with the idea of a traveling roadshow: an actor in a pirate outfit to portray Captain Morgan, and a group of scantily-clad “Morganette” girls, to promote the product at live events. A star was born: Captain Morgan took off, challenging stodgy old Bacardi for rum supremacy in North America. In 2014 it finally surpassed<\/a> Bacardi as the top U.S. rum in retail sales.<\/p>\n But the spiced rum market is now a crowded field, and the aging pirate is constantly hunted by nautically-named knockoffs. Admiral Nelson and Lieutenant Dan undercut the Captain on price. At the higher end, The Kraken and Sailor Jerry have growing followings.<\/p>\n In response, just this year the Captain released, not a kraken, but… a trio of tropical flavored rums<\/a>: Captain Morgan Coconut, Grapefruit, and Pineapple.<\/p>\n