West Indies Rum Distillery tour - Barbados
At first glance as one approaches this distillery from the road of St. Michael’s Parish in Barbados you would think that this was a small operation.
Think again. And welcome to the home of Cockspur Rum.
I’d reached out to them before I traveled to arrange a private tour of the distillery. Since I’m not in Barbados as often as I’d like I couldn’t pass up a chance to see how Cockspur was produced.
We were met by the factory rep at the main office where we were briefed on safety procedures and given hard hats. Every staff member I passed smiled warmly, but the production manager, Don Benn, was who lead me through the intricacies of rum refinement and production. And he was quite thorough.
Our first stop was where the molasses came in,then through the intricate details of the fermentation process. I inhaled molasses that smelled so sweet it made me euphoric. That smell always brings me back to my childhood in Guyana.
I was completely fascinated with the central processing computer room. It surveyed the distillery in real time and could easily identify any glitch in the process from beginning to end. We next toured the lab which, involves quality control and smell testing for each batch of rum. Every batch can be segmented according to the smell. I was also fascinated by the fact that the West Indies Rum Distillery distilled several different labeled rum that is marketed under different names that appeal to different segments of the spirit market.
It was illuminating and exciting to uncover so much about rum production, and I know that I’ve just scratched the surface. So exciting!
