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March 5, 2017June 24, 2021

Rum Distillery Tours on the Island of St. Croix

St. Croix, the largest of the US Virgin Islands, not only has beautiful beaches, top-notch culinary experiences and a wide variety of great accommodations, it offers two distinctly different, yet interesting, rum distilleries tours for rum lovers – or those that would just like to learn more about rum.

Cruzan Rum and Captain Morgan are the two distilleries found on this, the largest US Virgin Island. Cruzan Rums have been crafted on St. Croix by the Nelthropp family for generations while Captain Morgan opened it’s St. Croix Distillery in 2011 and a visitor center on the site the following year. What does that mean for rum lovers like you and me? You’ve got two completely different tours to experience on St. Croix and you can easily do both in one afternoon!

We began our rum tour by getting a lift in Christiansted from Joseph, of Joseph’s VIP Taxi Tours (contact him at 340-277-6133). We knew we would be enjoying the rum drinks at the end of each tour and hiring a taxi is the way to go. Joseph was a great tour guide and was recently voted taxi driver of the year on St. Croix. He was warm and welcoming, and gave us some great info on St. Croix along the way.

First stop? The Captain Morgan Experience Center. Here we started the tour with a short and entertaining movie about Captain Morgan, then followed a tour guide through the Information Center, learning about the history and current Captain Morgan products.

Outside, we boarded a small tram to take a short tour through the distillery, learning about the distilling process along the way.

Once back at the facility, we were treated to two rum drinks of our choice and tastes of any the different types of rums, if desired.

At the end of the tour, you can peruse through the Captain Morgan shop and take home a souvenir of your visit.

Joseph was waiting for us outside and we boarded the van for our next rum experience. Just a short hop away, we entered the Cruzan Rum facility.

We were immediately taken by the Cruzan rum culture and our first view of a sugar mill surrounded by the flags of the seven nations that have ruled St. Croix – the most of any of the US Virgin Islands.

Walking up to the Visitors Center, we enjoyed the sights of a generations old facility.

Our tour guide took us through the actual distillery and we loved being so close to the process, smelling the molasses and watching it ferment.

In one of the storage rooms, filled with barrels and barrels of the delicious aging elixir, she explained the aging process and the color variations of different rums.

At the end of the tour, we were deposited in the Cruzan tasting room – not a bad place to be, where we enjoyed our choice of several different Cruzan Rum cocktails and again could sample the individual rums, if we wished (we did…).

After a few minutes of shopping, we headed back to find Joseph, who was waiting patiently for his, then, very happy crew, and we made our way back to our home for the night, Hotel Caravelle in Christiansted.

Have you taken the rum tours on St. Croix? Tell us about it!

Find out more about the rum tours here:

Captain Morgan

Cruzan Rum

A special thanks to USVI Tourism Board for arranging our rum distillery tours!

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January 2, 2017June 6, 2019

Dos Maderas Luxus. A Rum Too Good to Share?

During a rum tasting at The Breadfruit & Rum Bar in Phoenix, our host, rum expert, Dwayne Allen, prefaced the tasting of a premium rum with these words; “There are some rums you buy to serve in a cocktail at a party. There are some rums you buy to share only with the closest of friends & family, and there are some rums, well, that are so rare and special, that you save them just for yourself.”

Those words have remained etched in our brain as we have ventured into the world of fine rums – something we knew nothing about a few years ago.

Enter Dos Maderas 5+5. Also first experienced during a rum tasting, we immediately fell for it. Made by Williams & Humbert – a sherry maker, this rum is aged for 5 years in the Caribbean in bourbon casks and then taken to Jerez, Spain, where it’s aged for an additional 5 years in sherry casks. Unfortunately Dos Maderas 5+5 was not easily found, and we ended up ordering a couple of bottles from Hi Times Wine Cellars.

Sometime last summer, we noticed a post on the Dos Maderas Instagram page with a photo of Dos Maderas Luxus. Luxus, a blend of rums produced on the islands of Barbados and Guyana, is aged for 10 years in the Caribbean, then shipped to the Williams and Humbert facilities in Spain, where is rests for an additional 5 years in oak-wood sherry casks. Due to the age and intricate process, this luxurious rum costs a bit to procure – $125-150+ a bottle.

Since we’re quite fond of the 5+5, we immediately we began a search for the Luxus and mentioned it to our fellow rum aficionado, Dan. A few weeks later, we got a call from Dan, asking if we’d like to do a rum tasting of Luxus – he’d found a bottle and had it shipped to his home.

The exquisite elixir did not disappoint; very smooth, rich and complex, slightly sweet, with a subtle hint of sherry. One glass led to another until the bottle was half empty.

Luxus is a limited edition and Dos Maderas releases only 5,000 bottles of it a year. Although we feel Luxus might fall in the “rums so rare and special, that you save them just for yourself” category, it was definitely nice to share notes and thoughts with a friend. Thank you Dan, for letting us in on the Luxus experience!

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August 15, 2016July 10, 2021

Happy National Rum Day! Test Your Rum IQ!

To celebrate National Rum Day on August 16, we’ve assembled a short and informative quiz regarding this most fabled of spirits! Test your Rum IQ by comparing your answers to the answers here: Rum Quiz Answers

National Rum Day Quiz*

1. What is the oldest brand of rum in the world?

2. What is the strongest rum in the world?

3. It is reported that ____________ had two drinks of rum before taking his famous ride.

4. What is the most expensive rum in the world?

5. Sailors in the British Navy were given rations of rum to prevent what disease?

6. Which US President served a barrel of Mount Gay Rum at his inaugural party?

7. Which of the following is not a nickname for rum?
a. rumbullion
b. kill-devil
c. nelson’s blood
d. pirate’s drink
e. cup o’ tot
f. rumbastion
g. navy neaters
h. splice the main brace
i. demon water

Happy National Rum Day!

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*Fun Fact Sources: Huffington Post, Ministry of Rum, Caribbean Journal, Mag for Women, Mobile Cuisine

January 11, 2016June 6, 2019

The Rum Bar, Phoenix

A big thanks to rum expert Dwayne Allen and his wife, chef extraordinaire, Danielle Leoni, who own the award winning Breadfruit and Rum Bar in downtown Phoenix. We enjoyed another great evening at their establishment this last weekend. We had reservations for 6:30p.m. at The Breadfruit, a fine eatery with a Jamaican influence, and got to The Rum Bar – which encompasses the other half of the space early to enjoy a few beverages and hopefully a little rum talk with Dwayne. Nothing about the evening disappointed.

Upon our arrival, we chatted with the knowledgeable bartender, Brian about what we should try.

We settled on a tasting flight and although there were four different flights to choose from, we chose the Masters Blend, which consisted of tastings of Brugal 1888, Angostura 1824 Limited Reserve 12 Year and Mt. Gay 1703 Cask Select.

Rum flights are an excellent way to sample a few different rums to learn about different regions, brands or types. All the rums in our flight were excellent, although there was a distinct winner on our palate. See the different flights and rums available here: Rums, flights and cigars. There are over 150 rums available at The Rum Bar, so there is certainly something to please everyone and the bartenders are very astute at assisting in finding the right cocktail or sipping rum to suit your taste.

Next we decided to sample a couple of the craft cocktails, all designed by Dwayne himself using the freshest of ingredients, hand squeezed juices and homemade spices.

We sampled a Punchbowl Special – a daily rotation of inspired rum punches. This day it included mango…delicious!

We then ordered a Rum Old Fashioned. This one was created with Appleton Extra 12 Year Rum, orange bitters and orange zest. It was an especially pleasing combination of flavors.

We got to chat with Dwayne for a bit about our upcoming trip to Antigua to get his take on Antiguan rums. Hailing from Jamaica, Dwayne knows and loves his rum and genuinely appears to love talking about it and educating folks on this spirit with deep roots in the Caribbean.

By then, it was time to be seated for dinner. After ordering Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass and Red Strip Curried Prawns we were nearly tortured by the aromas emanating from the kitchen and could hardly wait until our selections arrived. After polishing off every last bite, John said it was the best Sea Bass he’d ever tasted and I felt the prawns were equally as delectable. I would have picked up my plate and licked it clean if I could have.

After dinner we each enjoyed one more Rum Old Fashioned before catching a taxi home. Great night and we can’t wait to return and sample some more.

An evening at the Rum Bar/Breadfruit is highly recommended.
It’s like having a little Jamaican vacation right in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona.

Check out The Breadfruit/Rum Bar website for more information.

March 5, 2015June 6, 2019

Papa’s Pilar Dark Rum

Last week we were sailing the beautiful Abacos Islands of the Bahamas with two rum experts on board. I know, it’s rough, but we struggled through it.

One of the rum experts, Carlton Grooms, is the Director of Operations of Papa’s Pilar Rum, distilled in Key West, Florida. While we had previously sampled and enjoyed both the Papa’s Pilar Blonde and Dark Rums, we were able to get a little first-hand knowledge of this rich spirit and the best way(s) to enjoy it.

One particularly delightful evening aboard our sailboat, while watching the sun set over the calm Sea of Abaco, we learned that an easy, albeit delicious way to enjoy a glass of Papa’s Pilar Dark Rum is simply to add an orange slice and some grated dark chocolate to a pour. Both the orange and the dark chocolate accentuate and open up the aromas and tastes found in the rum. Although we enjoy sipping Papa’s Pilar Dark Rum neat, I believe we’ve found our new favorite way of enjoying a glass.

Oh, and the view didn’t hurt either…

Find more rum recipes here:

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March 3, 2015April 19, 2021

Festival RumBahamas 2015

Festival RumBahamas took over the historic and beautiful Ft. Charlotte in Nassau, Bahamas this year for three fun-filled days from February 27 – March 1.

When we realized we’d be in the Bahamas at about the same time as the rum festival, we made plans to be in Nassau to experience this “rum”tastic event. Boy, were we glad we did!

The organizers of RumBahamas (Events by Alexandra) did a fantastic job of combining festival elements to appeal to the serious rum fanatic as well as to those that enjoy rum because of its ability to conjure up images of beautiful beaches and a tropical escape. RumBahamas 2015 was a feast of delicious rums made even more authentic with the sights, sounds and smells of the tropics.

These were just few of the highlights of this years events for us:

1. Rum tastings. Although we’re not rum experts, we certainly enjoy rum and it was a treat to sample rums that we’ve not experienced before.

2. Having rum connoisseurs at the ready to chat with and answer questions about all aspects of rum.

3. Experiencing and learning about beautiful Fort Charlotte and sipping great rum in a dungeon!

4. The unique combination of a historical fort combined with brightly colored larger than life decorations.

5. The festival atmosphere, replete with some very talented Moko Jumbies, marching bands, live music, and delicious food.

6. Booths and booths of beautiful locally crafted items.

7. Dirty Mules. This tasty ginger and rum drink is new to us and we enjoyed one…or two. Even more appealing as the recipe for this delight is hush, hush.

8. Rum cocktails galore. Want a Piña Colada, Daiquiri or a Bahamian favorite, the Goombay Smash? Not only could you find them there, you could try one with different brands of rums.

9. Capt. Jack Sparrow. Who doesn’t like Capt. Jack? This guy really played the part well.

10. A pirate atmosphere and lots of fun costumes.

11. Rum bottles used as decorations. Ingenious.

12. All of this in a magical setting in the beautiful Bahamas. Bravo.

To see more posts on the Bahamas and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

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Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC. All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit.

July 17, 2014June 24, 2021

Habitation Clément, Martinique

Habitation Clément, Martinique – a guest post by author Laura Albritton

If you like rum – no, make that love rum – and lush, green Caribbean islands with soft sand beaches, it’s worth sailing or flying into the French Antillean paradise of Martinique. Connoisseurs know that Martinican rum ranks among the best; one of my favorites, the award-winning Rhum Clément, will make your taste buds sing.

Habitation Clement - Martinique — Clément Rhum Agricole

Photo Credit: Zickie Allgrove

My husband, daughter, and I recently made the pilgrimage to the historic Habitation Clément estate, in Le François on the eastern side of this gorgeous tropical island. Fortunately, they offer a self-guided audio tour in English.

This isn’t just a little rum factory: you’ve got a veritable Garden of Eden with scarlet, purple, and hot pink flowers and beautiful trees to wander through. (The audio tells you what you’re seeing.)

Photo Credits: Zickie Allgrove

Then there’s the “maison de maître” or the master’s house, where the land-owning family once dwelled. Although full of West Indian antiques, hand-crafted in the islands, the house itself is endearingly homey rather than grand.

Habitation Clément, Martinique — The maison de maître or master’s house

Photo Credit: Zickie Allgrove

Photo Credit: Laura Albritton

My mechanically-minded husband really dug the vintage factory with its steam powered equipment, while I oohed and ahhed in their two art galleries, including Fondation Clément, with world-class paintings and sculpture.

Photo Credit: Zickie Allgrove

But the real Rum Therapy reward was saved ‘til last – the tasting room. Here the staff wasn’t stingy with samples – even of the expensive stuff. We had to try the 10 year-old Rhum Agricole, a beautifully golden sipping rum.

Unlike most rum, which is produced from molasses, rhum agricole is made using freshly-pressed sugarcane juice. The result: sublimely delicious. During our tour I discovered that Homère Clément, the Martinican gentleman who bought the property in 1887, is credited with developing this unusually fine type of tipple.

Photo Credit: Zickie Allgrove

In the tasting room, there’s also fiery white rum to a make ‘Ti Punch (the traditional cocktail with squeezed lime and sugar). And finally, flavored punches that you can drink without mixing: Punch Coco with coconut, Punch Passion with passion fruit, and even Punch Café with a hint of coffee.

After tasting these delicious elixirs, of course I bought a few bottles. Although we weren’t lounging on the beach with the Caribbean lapping at our toes, Habitation Clément was definitely one of our favorite stops on enchanting Martinique.

A special thanks to Laura Albritton for sharing some of her wonderful Martinique travel experiences with us. Laura writes about travel, books, and art for publications like The Miami Herald, Sculpture magazine, Harvard Review, and The Florida Keys Weekly. Check out her new guidebook Miami for Families on her website and her new blog, Island Runaways.

February 12, 2014June 24, 2021

The Mysterious Bottle of Rum

We were recently contacted by Jim and Holly, a couple that we had the pleasure of spending a week with during our Island Windjammers Cruise a few years ago. They’d been gifted an old bottle of rum that was perhaps pretty special and wondered if we could find out anything about it. We’re posting the story of this mysterious bottle of rum to see if any of you may know how to get background info on it!

Here’s the story:

What started out as a simple gift from a brother-in-law has become my mystery. He gave me the bottle over Thanksgiving. One of his Californian neighbors is in the business of buying estates, usually after someone’s death. As you can imagine it is sometimes difficult to determine whether items in an estate have any real value. Not knowing much about rum, and knowing my brother-in-law drinks rum, the neighbor gave it to him.

We did some online research and have had some luck. Here is what I have been able to learn. The rum is named Bebida Real and was manufactured in Cuba by Nicolas Merino. The bottle was imported through New York and tax stamped in California for retail sale. California tax authorities confirmed that the tax stamp (16 cents) represents a tax rate that was in place between 1935 and 1955.

They were not able to use the actual tax stamp number to narrow it down any further and obviously know nothing about the producer. In about 1960 Castro took over the rum industry in Cuba and made it ‘state run.’ This happened to Bacardi as well.

I contacted a UK company that offered an evaluation and they offered two hundred pounds before any of my research so I have to believe its work twice that or more. They opined that the bottle label and type of seal were common to the 30’s and 40’s and that information is consistent with what I learned from the State of California. Prohibition ended in 1933 so I knew it was imported sometime after 1933 even before I got the information from California. Combining what the collector in the UK knew, and what the State of California told me, it appears the bottle was imported between 1935 and 1950.

The bottle was imported by a company named McKesson Spirits which was part of the McKesson and Robbins Corporation. The company was somewhat infamous in the late 30’s after a known criminal (Phillip Musica),using a couple of aliases,apparently took over the company. He had been convicted twice for bootlegging during prohibition. Musica and several brothers apparently created false sales and false value and profits. Eventually, December of 1938, the SEC opened an investigation and Musica was arrested and eventually committed suicide before he could be rearrested before trial.This incident contributed to the creation of many new federal regulations about how companies are required to report their financial health. The company survived and is now McKesson Corporation, a large global company. During the mid 1900’s McKesson was the USA’s largest importer of alcoholic beverages among other things.

Although the bottle’s labels are generally in good shape there is no manufacturing date on the bottle. I haven’t been able to find anything about the company that produced it and suspect it is no longer in business. However, it is difficult to get historical information out of Cuba via the internet. The stamp on the bottle, see pictures, is a 16 cent stamp which means that the tax on spirits in California at the time was 80 cents per gallon (which is how I was able to identify the 1935-1955 time frame by contacting California tax authorities). I now own a mint version of the stamp (purchased from a stamp collector) but still don’t know the actual date of manufacture and import.

Anyone who has any thoughts or information that might help me close in on the age of the bottle, understand its history, and determine the value of the bottle please contact me [email protected]. I don’t know if I will sell the bottle but want to know its approximate value before I decide. I also am not sure how best to sell it if I decide to.And if it turns out to be only worth a couple of hundred dollars I may just decide to have a Cuban rum party and enjoy it!

If you have any info on this bottle, please contact Jim and let him know. Is it worth anything? Or, should he just have a party (and invite us!)

Thanks!

January 27, 2014June 24, 2021

Appleton Rum Factory Tour, Jamaica

Deep within the beautiful Jamaican countryside lies Appleton Estate, home of the family of wonderful Appleton rums. During our recent trip to Jamaica, we made the long trip from Negril through the lush fields of Nassau Valley, to take a tour and learn more about Appleton rums.

During the drive to Appleton, we passed by fields and fields of sugarcane, as well as mangoes, bananas, breadfruit and peanuts.

The estate itself sits on a beautiful site in lush Nassau Valley, close to the Black River.

We arrived at Appleton, were greeted by the friendly staff, paid our tour fee ($25 per person) and ushered into the bar, where we were offered a rum punch.

While sipping the tasty punch, we watched a brief video on the history of Appleton Estate and it’s rum.

Our tour guide then led us outside then to the estate grounds, where we were shown how donkeys were used to help squeeze the sugar cane and many other historical artifacts that have now been replaced with modern technology and processes.

We climbed the lookout tower to get a great view of the surrounding estate, countryside and limestone hills that protect the estate.

The tour moved on to the area where the distilling and aging take place.

Photography was not permitted in the actual distilling area, but we were able to snap some pictures in the aging area, where the rum is aged and rests for for many years in oak barrels.

After learning about the different distillation processes and examining the aging areas, we had the chance to press our own sugarcane and sample “wet sugar” (molasses) out of a copper pot.

A few more pictures of the grounds and we headed in to the best part (in our opinion) of the tour – the rum tasting.

We were given the opportunity, and encouraged, to try all of the rums that are somehow connected in the Appleton Rum Family including Wray & Nephew Overproof and Rum Cream, Coruba, Jamaican Blue Mountain Mist Coffee Liqueur and several Appleton Rums such as V/X and Genesis (white).

Unfortunately, the wonderful aged rums, Appleton Estate, Appleton 30 and Appleton 50 were not available for sampling. We though about bringing some of the Appleton 50 home and probably would have it we had more room in our suitcase… ;)

Is the Appleton Rum Factory Tour right for you? The cost of the tour is $25.00 per person (which includes a small complimentary bottle of rum to take with you). We paired the Rum Factory Tour with YS Falls and Floyd’s Pelican Bar, which made it an affordable experience for us. The cost of getting to Appleton can be high from Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Negril, but if you enjoy rum and would like to learn more about a premium rum manufacturer, the estate it’s produced on and have the opportunity to sample different rums in their portfolio, you will probably really enjoy this tour. We did.

Find Appleton Rum Estate on our Jamaica Map

To see more posts on Jamaica and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

August 13, 2013July 9, 2021

Callwood Rum Distillery, Tortola

Want to experience a slice of Tortola history dating back as much as possibly 400 years?

Then be sure to visit the Callwood Rum Distillery on your next visit to Tortola. Although no one knows exactly how long rum has been produced on the original Arundel Estate, the Callwood family took over the distillery in the late 18th century and has been producing rum for over 200 years in what is claimed to be the longest continuously operated pot distillery in the Caribbean.

Just a short walk from beautiful Cane Garden Bay, you feel as if you’re walking into a very old and deserted compound, but it’s actually an operating rum distillery and museum.

Rum is produced here from approximately March through August and during this time you can take a short tour of the distillery for a nominal amount.

If you visit at another time, you can still get a sense of the history by touring the grounds and purchasing rum at the museum/shop. Instead of paying a $2 fee to take pictures inside the museum, you can purchase a bottle of rum and take all the pictures you want. We felt the rum purchase was well worth it and wish we would have purchased more to bring home.

Callwood produces a gold rum called the Arundel Cane Rum “Original”, a 10 year old Gold Rum, the Arundel White Rum, the Callwood Spiced Rum and a blend called the “Panty Dropper”. Hmmm.

Arundel Cane Rum is made from pure cane juice, instead of molasses, giving it it’s distinctive flavor, and the hand affixed labels give it as unique and antique a look as the distillery itself. Pick up a bottle or two to bring home. Although it is now available in a few shops in the VI, it’s well worth the visit, a tour and to take a huge step back in time…

Visit the Callwood Rum Distillery website and Facebook Page for more information.

To see more posts on Tortola and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit.
Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC