Three Rum Tours You Can Enjoy in Barbados
by Karen Rollins Sep 12, 2022
Barbados and rum go together like sand and sea or macaroni and cheese.
The island’s economy, geography, and history are closely entwined with the alcoholic beverage, and its discovery by enslaved Africans hundreds of years ago has played an integral role in the country’s development.
Discovering more about rum, and its importance to Barbados, is easy with interactive tours available at three of the largest distillers on the island.
Mount Gay’s Distillery Experience
Mount Gay’s two-hour Distillery Experience gives visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the oldest, continuously running rum distillery in the world.
The adults-only tour includes a look around the estate and fully operational rum factory in St Lucy, while a guide explains the history and the process of making Mount Gay rum. You will also explore the molasses house, fermentation house, distillation house and bonds and get to taste some rum!
The tour costs $63 (US) per person.
Foursquare Rum Distillery Tour
Take a trip down to St Philip for the Foursquare Rum Distillery Tour.
Visitors are free to walk around the site by themselves and then pay $25 (BBD) to taste and learn about six to eight different rums. Or you can pay $45 (BBD) for the tasting, along with a fully guided tour where you will discover the history of Foursquare and the entire rum making process from sugar harvesting to bottling.
Contact Dario Folkes at the Copperstill Rum Bar to arrange your visit at +1 (246) 248-9471 or via [email protected].
St Nicholas Abbey’s Rum Experience Tour
The St Nicholas Abbey Rum Experience Tour is hosted by the distillery’s owner Larry Warren.
The tour begins with a ride on the Abbey’s Heritage Railway which goes through the plantation’s grounds in St Peter to the top of Cherry Tree Hill and back again.
Once you leave the train at the Great House, you’ll watch a 1930s movie of life on the plantation, before a guided tour of the factory and the steam mill, followed by rum tasting of four rums and sugar cane syrups. Visitors leave with a complimentary miniature five-year-old rum. (sweet-factory.com)
The price is $200 (BBD) per person.
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Visiting a local rum distillery is a fun way to learn more about Barbados’ long association with the drink and of course you can also pop along to one of the island’s many rum shops to continue tasting it!
