Ins & Outs of Barbados 2020

INS EXPLORE  183 The Coffee Still at Mount Gay Rum Refinery Photo Andrew Hulsmeier It’s a major source of Blues’ satisfaction in his work: “The Coffey still broke down a long time back, but I brought it back online. I made that still part of me,” he said. “That’s why they now call it the ‘Blues’ still.” There are two types of stills in use: the pot still for complex, aromatic flavour, and the more efficient column (or continuous) still for purer, stronger distillate of a more consistent quality. One of Aubrey Ward’s innovations was to import a Coffey still, a type of column still. That’s what produced the dear, departed sugar cane brandy that Mount Gay used to make. It’s a major source of Blues’ satisfaction in his work: “The Coffey still broke down a long time back, but I brought it back online. I made that still part of me,” he said. “That’s why they now call it the ‘Blues’ still.” Blues has retired but remains on call as a consultant. His son, Wave, has worked at Mount Gay since 1990 and is stepping into Blues’- swayed shoes. “I taught him both the manual and computerised stills,” said the proud father. What about those names? Blues got his nickname from his eye colour at birth. (It has since changed.) Wave is his son’s real name. Before his birth, Blues, who relaxes by shore fishing, dreamt that he caught a big fish. This told him that his girlfriend was pregnant. It turned out that she was, so Wave was the perfect name. The Ward name itself is legendary in Barbados, and not just for rum. By the age of 29, A.F. of St. Lucy had sired eight children and went on to produce over 42 more! His brother, Edmund, in the south of the island fathered an estimated 30 children. Neither married any of the mothers, but both provided maintenance for them all, making sure that none became Wards of the state. The two men looked after their offsprings’ education too, which may partly account for their fitness to go into extensive Ward family businesses. Many of Blues’ other seven children and 22 grandchildren now live abroad, but Wave is practically next door to the little house that Blues is building for himself in the tiny, cane- swallowed village of Oxford, St. Lucy. Though Mount Gay Rum is no longer in the Ward family, there’s something comforting about the multi-generational connection, and that some of the expertise abides less than a mile from its birthplace.