Barbados – Part 6 – The Rum – Foursquare Distillery

The Caribbean Islands are all known for their rum. Rum has been a major industry since the 1600’s. Barbados’ rum, in particular, is known as some of the best rum in the world by rum connoisseurs. Sugar cane was introduced to the island in 1627, and in 1647 rum was one of Barbados’ major industries, and has been ever since.

Rum has gone by many names. First, it was known as “kill-devil”, because of its early, hot, strong, hellish and terrible flavor. But it has come a long way since those early days. It was also known as rumbullion, which is an old English term referring to the riots and uproars created by large, crowds of noisy disruptive people. HMMMMM! I wonder how it got that name???? From the name rumbullion, it was shortened to just rum, which is the name the world knows it by today.

In the early days of rum, the water was so bad, that people were told to drink rum or spirits instead of the water. It was cleaner and less harmful than the water. Rum was also part of the daily rations for sailors. The term “proofed”, used for alcohols of all kinds, originally came from the days when the sailors would pour a little rum over gunpowder and ignite it. If the rum was too diluted, the gunpowder would not ignite. If it ignited, it was considered “proofed” to be strong.

There are three large rum factories and distilleries in Barbados – 1) Mount Gay, the oldest continuous distillery in the world, operating since 1705; 2) St. Nicolas Abbey; and 3) Foursquare. We toured both Foursquare Distillery and Mount Gay. We tried to go to St. Nicolas, but it was closed on the one day we went there. Next time.

The Foursquare Distillery was a self-guided tour, that was free.

In the early days of rum making, the distilleries were on people’s personal plantations, and they lived on the premises.

There was even an old outside museum of old rum machinery parts.

The sugar cane fields. The cane is stripped and burned down to make molasses, which is in turn used as one of the major ingredients for the rum production.

After the tour, we had to sample the rums of course. Our rum guide was very knowledgeable and walked us through the different stages of rum and rum processing.

We tried small amounts of 6 different rums this day. I liked the upper end, smoother sipping rums. I know. You’re all shocked. Surprise, surprise! 🙂