As Time Goes By

My dad passed away last fall, and my sister and I recently toasted him with a couple glasses of his favourite drink: Old Sam and Pepsi. The demerara rum is a popular tipple in Newfoundland, with its coppery red hue and flavours of molasses and tobacco. It can be a little harsh without ice, but it’s smooth when mixed with cola, which also gives the drink a distinctive frothy head. We call it Old Saucy because it had a way of bringing that quality out of Dad, especially when he was playing cards. As we topped up our glasses, I noticed that Old Sam had changed its label. For as long as I can remember, it had carried the visage of an elderly, laughing man, who we all figured was Sam himself, in the top left corner. Sure enough, this past summer, the Newfoundland Labrador Liquor Corporation opted instead for a simplified, text-based design.

The reason behind this new look, according to...