1703 is the year that the Mount Gay Rum was first produced on the Isle of Barbados, making Mount Gay Rum one of the oldest, if not the oldest brand of rum in the world. Because Barbados is situated as a gateway from the Atlantic to the Caribbean, sailors from the Old World often used the island as the first resting point on the way to the New World. This meant Barbados was ideally suited for trade between the two worlds in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Part of that trade was rum which is why the island is rightfully considered the birthplace of the rum trade.
It was in 1910 that the appearance of Haley’s comet coincided with a total solar eclipse, and this event is said to have inspired Mount Gay to create their Eclipse Rum. The Eclipse is a traditional double distilled gold rum produced from copper pot stills and aged in white Kentucky oak barrels which were previously used to age bourbon.
Here is a link to the Number 11 Rum in my countdown of the Best Mixing Rums of 2016:
Review: Mount Gay Eclipse Gold
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Stay tuned for more mixing rum revelations as I will be adding to this list each day until Christmas Eve.
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While the vast majority of the rum distillate produced at the distillery is destined for bulk sales (much of it to Diageo), about 10 % of the rum distilled is set down to rest in American Oak barrels and aged at the NJR facility at Innswood, an older distillery which now serves as an aging and blending facility for Claredon.
That is not the whole story, as my bottle clearly states (at the bottom of the label) that the particular bottle which I was given has been blended with Canadian rum as well. For those who do not know, it used to be fairly common for rums imported into Canada to be blended with a small amount (about 1.5 %) of Canadian Rum (usually produced at the Hiram Walker Distillery) in order to obtain a more favourable tax rate from the Canadian Government. I have been told that this small amount of Canadian Rum does not change the flavour profile, although the skeptic inside me forces me to mention the Canadian content just in case the Myer’s Planters’ Punch does taste slightly different in other markets.
In the case of the Flor de Caña 4 Extra Seco, this brand now replaced the Flor de Caña Extra Dry 4 Year Old Rum in their line-up. The new Extra Seco brand is now longer an age stated 4-year-old rum, rather I have been told that the number 4 on the label is representative of the average age of the rums in the blend with some variation in the actual age based upon blending to a consistent flavour profile.
Although the naval tradition of the daily tot had ended, in 1979 Charles Tobias obtained the rights and the blending information for the British Naval Rum, and formed Pusser’s Ltd. on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. His company produces their Pusser’s Rum following the blending information and the traditions of the Admiralty, including producing the rum from wooden pot stills just as the had been the tradition for over 200 years.
The Rum Howler Blog 