blackstrap

The term blackstrap seems originally to have been applied, in the mid-eighteenth century, to an inferior type of port—harsh, overalcoholic, and oversweet, and impenetrably dark and viscous. Then, in the nineteenth century, a new application came along—to a beverage made from rum and molasses, with or without water. This also became known as black stripe. Neither usage is much met with nowadays, although the word is used of a type of molasses that remains after maximum extraction of sugar in processing.