The rum diaries

Meet the Author: Ian Williams: Fri., Nov. 18, happy hour 6:30 p.m., program 7 p.m., Pages & Places at The Everhart (1901 Mulberry St., Scranton). Free. Info: 570.346.7186

Sugar and molasses, on their own, are two fairly unassuming ingredients. Combine, ferment, distill and age them, though, and the resulting blend is one heady little libation: Rum. But we’re not talking about just any old rum. When made well, this particular liquor has the potential to be much more than simply the catalyst to a night of poor decisions involving frat parties and red plastic cups.

“Let’s just say there’s a certain well-known branded white spirit which a lot of people in America mistake for rum,” explained Ian Williams, journalist and author of “Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776,” when he checked in with the Weekender from New York City last week. “It’s usually a revelation to people that a bottle of aged rum has all of the character and flavor of a single malt or an old bourbon or a cognac, and it’s often much cheaper, as well. So it’s a wonderful bargain.”

That tidbit barely scratches the surface of Williams’ wealth of knowledge on the topic, and he’ll be on hand — most likely with samples — for a meet and greet and discussion at Pages & Places at the Everhart Museum in Scranton on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.

The Pages & Places initiative started as a book festival and has since grown, operating under the auspices of making the region a more interesting place to live and fostering coordination between area cultural institutions. It offers cultural programming three times a month from May through November at varying locations, from Vintage Theater in Scranton to the Everhart Museum.

“Our sense (at Pages & Places), judging partly by the relative success of the book festival, is that there’s a hunger for high-end cultural programming,” said Bill Black, co-director, who also noted that the venues choose the programs and speakers. “So what we’ve tried to do is cover a very broad range of topics. Run from hard sciences to history to literature to what’s happening in cities, poetry, architecture, so forth.”

A discussion like the one Williams offers fits perfectly with the organization’s goal because it’s academic but high-spirited, and it helps that Williams is a jovial, entertaining character by nature.

“This really hits the sweet spot in the sense that you’ve got history, both in a narrow sense and a broad sense,” Black said. “And it’s highly festive. (Williams) is a fascinating, kind of larger-than-life figure, and of course there’s a rum tasting. It’s intellectual stimulation but it’s also just really fun.”

Williams’ book is an in-depth look at the role rum has played in history, a journey through time he chose to take because of his love for the Caribbean, one of the primary producers of the spirit.

“Only since I’ve finished the book and I’ve been speaking about it … do you realize just how important alcohol is in history,” Williams said. “There’s a very strong developing hypothesis amongst developmental archeologists that it wasn’t agriculture that gave rise to alcohol, it was alcohol that gave rise to agriculture.

“And it’s a strong working hypothesis at the moment that the reason people developed agriculture was to ensure a steady supply of booze.”