I went back to an Act 1 save game and checked. The dialogue option "Your duty is to guard this door?" appears. If I pick that, the response is, "I'm duty bound to guard this door. If I wasn't, I'd be in the mess hall with my friends having a few drinks." The choices are then, "What's your name", "You were punished for talking?", and "Bye".
I must have a bug or something. He never mentions rum specifically, and I can't trade it to him outright, as it does not appear in my character's trade window.
Regards,
Michael
