Wayne got himself a book deal and dug deeper, rummaging through libraries across the eastern seaboard and government archives in the Caribbean. In order to experience what an 18th century Hot Rum Flip truly tasted like, he paid an ironmonger to re-create a piece of antique barware that hadn't been used, let alone seen, for hundreds of years: the loggerhead, a metal rod heated over an open flame and then plunged into a drink to warm it up. "I went to two ironsmiths. The first made me a loggerhead but it was a little bit unsatisfying, not heavy enough to conduct sufficient heat. So I went to a second guy who made it with a big solid head on it; it took 45 minutes to heat it up, but that made a fine Flip. It's fun to go into craft cocktail bars now, like Meta in Louisville, and seeing them heat drinks that way all over again."

Speaking of Jeff Berry, he has a regular feature over at Difford's Guide called "The Peters Street Regulars" where he profiles some notable regulars at Latitude 29, his bar-restaurant in New Orleans. #2 in the series features Wayne Curtis, the author of And A Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in 10 Cocktails. Get that book if you don't have a copy already. And if you want to know about serious rum collecting, read #1 in the series featuring Stephen Remsberg.