Barbados Rum: Ten Things to Know

Barbados is justifiably famous in today’s rum world. Once a British colony, the island is steeped in rum history and drawing international acclaim for its distillers, blenders, and new rum releases. Following in the footsteps of my popular Ten Things to Know About Jamaican Rum article, let’s look at some interesting yet lesser-known aspects of Barbados Rum.

1) Barbados is the Birthplace of Rum (Or is it?)

Many histories of rum note that the first distilled spirit known today as rum was made in Barbados. Richard Ligon, an English author, and half-owner of a Barbados plantation, lived on the island between 1647 and 1650. In his 1657 book, he writes: [i]

…convey the skimmings of the three lesser Coppers, down to the Still-house, whereof the strong Spirit is made, which they call kill-devill…

However, Barbados may not have been the first cane spirit in the new world. Other historians note that cane spirits were distilled in what is now in Brazil as early as 1532. Furthermore, it’s believed that Peter Blower, a Dutch trader from Brazil, brought sugarcane cultivation to Barbados in 1637.

But wait, there’s more! Historian Marco Pierini provides compelling evidence that the first Caribbean rum was made on St. Kitts and/or Martinique, possibly predating Barbados by a few years.

2) Mount Gay – Oldest Continuously Operating Distillery

Based on historical documents, the Mount Gay brand says that rum making has occurred at the Mount Gay site since 1703. This makes Mount Gay the continuously operating rum distillery anywhere, predating even Appleton Estate (1749) and St. James (1765).

In an interesting twist, Mount Gay was originally named Mount Gilboa. The Mount Gilboa name would re-emerge many years later.

In another interesting twist, the first branded Mount Gay rum didn’t appear until the early 20^th century. However, that still makes Mount Gay one of the oldest brands directly connected to a specific distillery.

3) West India Rum Refinery – A New Type of Distillery

As elsewhere in the Caribbean, most rum making in the 1800s was done on sugar estates with a small associated distillery using waste from the sugar mill. By the late 1800s, most estates found it hard to remain profitable; many stopped operating or were subsumed into other estates. The future of Barbadian rum was in peril.

In 1893, George Stade and his brother built the first large-scale “modern” distillery, making rum from purchased molasses. It was also the first time column distillation was used to make rum on Barbados. In short order, the distillery began making more rum than all other distilleries on Barbados combined. However, it had no rum brand to call its own for nearly 130 years.

Today we know the West India Rum Refinery as the West Indies Rum Distillery. A detailed look at the distillery appears in our new book, Modern Caribbean Rum.

4) Distilleries Prohibited from Selling Rum

In the early 1900s, a Barbadian law prevented distilleries from selling rums in quantities of less than 10 gallons, effectively preventing them from selling directly to consumers. Instead, distilleries like the West India Rum Refinery typically sold unaged rum to merchants who then aged, blended, and bottled the rum for sale to consumers.

Some of these merchant names still live on today as brand names, including Doorly’s (Martin Doorly), E.S.A. Field, Alleyne Arthur, John D. Taylor, and R.L. Seale.

5) A Communal Distillery

Unfortunately for George Stade (see above), the West India Rum Refinery went bankrupt in 1901. To exit bankruptcy, the distillery sold ownership shares and became a publicly held company.

In many cases, merchants buying rum from the distillery also purchased its shares, making them both customers and part-owners of the West India Rum Refinery. Thus, the distillery was essentially a shared “co-op” resource used by Barbados rum brands for many years.

6) Barbados Rum of the Past

Today, Barbados rum is renowned for its purity and lack of flavorings. However, in the past, many Barbados merchants flavored their rum before sale. In 1937, Peter Valaer, a chemist for the U.S. Treasury, wrote a very detailed analysis of rums from the US and other countries.[ii] In his description of Barbados rums, he notes:

The molasses spirits are usually distilled with lime and soda, often in the presence of vegetable roots, coconut shells, and other substances…. The analysis of true Barbados rum is not shown, but a formula of well-known brands consists of a mixture of distilled molasses spirit varying in proof from 145° to 190°, sherry, Madeira or other wines, often spirits of niter, bitter almonds, and raisins.

Foreign and Domestic Rum, 1937

It’s important also to note that such practices were commonplace elsewhere in the Caribbean and with spirits other than rum. Luckily, there are many rum makers today selling rum free of flavorings.

7) Four Distilleries

Today, there are four distilleries on Barbados:

• Mount Gay
• West Indies Rum Distillery
• Foursquare Rum Distillery
• St. Nicholas Abbey

Mount Gay is the oldest of the four, while St. Nicholas Abbey, housed in a beautifully restored Barbados estate, is the youngest, starting operations in 2006.

In terms of distillation output, West India Rum Distillery is the largest, distilling over 80 percent of the island’s rum. St. Nicholas Abbey is the smallest, distilling less than 1 percent of the island’s rum annually.

As for Mount Gay and Foursquare, they are approximately equal in distillation capacity and quantity of casks undergoing aging. Both have over 40,000 casks, making them the largest holders of aged rum on the island.

8) Signature Style

While each Barbados distillery has one or more pot/batch stills, if one had to pin down today’s signature Barbadian style, most experts would note that it’s an expertly aged blend of pot and column distilled rum. Column-distilled is usually the majority of such blends.

9) Home of WIRSPA

In addition to its four rum distilleries, Barbados is also the home to WIRSPA, more formally known as the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association. WIRSPA’s 14 members are rum-making countries from around the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, Guyana, St. Lucia, Belize, Haiti, and many more.

WIRSPA’s member countries and their distilleries work on areas of common interest relating to Caribbean rum, including trade advocacy, technical information sharing, and category education. The Authentic Caribbean Rum Marque is one of WIRSPA’s signature programs.

Although WIRSPA members often meet at various Caribbean locales, the organization’s day-to-day operations are performed at WIRSPA’s Barbados office.

[Disclosure, I am WIRSPA’s Community Envoy, facilitating information sharing between rum enthusiasts and rum makers. Among my projects are the Rum Talk series and Icon Series.]

10) Foursquare’s International Acclaim

Founded in 1996, Foursquare Rum Distillery has received enormous international acclaim and countless awards in the last few years. Previously a merchant blender (see item 4 above), Sir David Seale and his son Richard Seale built and started distilling at the Foursquare Rum distillery in 1996. (Note: a detailed look at the distillery appears in our new book, Modern Caribbean Rum.)

Richard has won multiple awards for himself, the distillery, and its rums, including the Exceptional Cask Series. Recent awards include:

• International Spirits Challenge (ISC) Rum Producer of the Year (2016-2019)
• International Spirits Challenge (ISC) Rum & Cane Spirits Producer of the Year (2020)
• International Spirits Challenge (ISC) Supreme Champion, 2021 (Redoubtable 14 Year)
• International Spirits Challenge (ISC) Master Blender of the Year (Richard Seale)
• International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC): Rum Producer of the Year (2016, 2018)
• International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC): Rum Trophy 2016, 2020 (Foursquare 2006, Foursquare 2008)

These are on top of countless gold and double gold medals for Foursquare-made rum, under its own brands (Foursquare, Doorly’s), and partner brands like The Real McCoy and Rum Sixty Six.

For you bourbon enthusiasts, Foursquare has even been called the “Pappy of Rum.” High praise indeed!

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Want to read more about Barbadian rum? Check out my collected writings here.

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[i] Ligon, Richard, A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbadoes, 1657

[ii]  Valaer, Peter, Foreign and Domestic Rum, Alcohol Tax Unit, U.S. Treasury Department, 1937