Barbados in a Nutshell - 2022 - EBook

13 Barbados Rum Foursquare RumDistillers – IWSC Spirits Distiller of the Year in 2021 Mount Gay - the oldest rum distillery in the world Perkins & Sons - an old Roebuck Street brand re-launched in 2020 broke out and all trade between mainland US and Barbados was banned, the island’s rum industry virtually collapsed. However, with smugglers maintaining a limited supply, rum remained the beverage of choice for privileged Americans, including none other than George Washington who had taken a liking to it when he visited Barbados as a 19-year-old. When Washington was elected as the first President of the United States in 1789, he specifically ordered Barbados rum to be served at his inauguration. In more modern times, Barbadian rum exports boomed when the US government outlawed alcohol in 1920. Sales went from 4,000 gallons to 150,000 gallons in just two years, most of it recorded as being sold to the Bahamas, where ‘rum runners’ would collect it for delivery to mainland America. It was ironic that prohibition actually re-introduced Barbados rum to the American market, and exports continued to grow after prohibition was lifted. With regard to the domestic market, at the turn of the 19th century Barbados passed legislation that banned rum distillers from bottling their own rum. Seeing an opportunity, wholesale traders bought rum in bulk and bottled it themselves, creating their own brands, many of which still exist today: R.L. Seale, ESA Field, Doorly’s, Cockspur, Alleyne Arthur, and the recently revived Perkins and Sons. Around 1925, Mount Gay - owned at the time by A.F. Ward and his