Foursquare Rum Distillery Wins 2021 International Wine and Spirits Challenge Award

This is a good news story for Barbados. It shows the world that although a small island we can produce a world class product. We have world class rum, we have a world class entertainer. What more inspiration do we need?

Congratulations to the Seale family and Team at Four Square Distillery!

 

International Wine and Spirits Challenge (IWSC) Rum Producer of the Year and Spirits Producer of the Year 2021 – Foursquare Rum Distillery – R L Seale & Co Ltd, Barbados

87 thoughts on “Foursquare Rum Distillery Wins 2021 International Wine and Spirits Challenge Award


  1. Congratulations to the owners and directors of RL Seale &Co on achieving this signal honour. This is who we are. We aim for excellence. Let us hope that this company remains in local hands.


  2. It’s a most apropos time for Bajan rum distillers produce a ‘vintage’ called the “President’s Edition” to celebrate the country’s first year of Republicanism.

    It should also make reference to the important role played by the former little titan country called Barbadoes in George Washington’s efforts (after his only visit to a foreign land) to make ‘America Great’ through its many shipments of Rum bullion in hogshead to the same Washington’s estate on Mount Vernon to give his freedom fighters the Bajan-spirited courage, honed at Oistins Bay, to defeat the British against all the odds.


  3. Barbados 🇧🇧 Birth place of Rum.

    “Congratulations to the Seale family and Team at Four Square Distillery. ”

    Xxxxx

    Tomorrow?

    The government as well as the citizens of our great nation have a choice to make. They can either sit idly by and allow themselves to be entangled into further debt, or they can diversify the economy. Under no circumstances should a country like Barbados determine their worth by record number of arrivals at both air and seaports. BDS need a viable commodity going forward. Medical Weed Cultivation ?

    That boat left a few years ago. licensing fees/stipulations derailed opportunities.

    Peter Lawrence Thompson need to pull something out of that 🎩, one more time…🎶


  4. (Miller) is one of the greatest living poet’s to date.

    May you get to Heaven before the devil 👿 knows you’re dead.

    It only took 4 shots of tequila…


  5. McCoy, to my taste, was not one of their better rums. The LCBO sold it off at a steep discount.
    Once I could find their rums in Fla. The 10yr in the black bottle, and Doorley XO are around, but I haven’t come across the others.


  6. I’ve often wondered how the name Four Square originated.

    When I started looking at old maps I thought perhaps it signified an area of Four Square miles but the more I examined this hypothesis the more I realised there is far more to the name.

    On the 1680 Ford Map it appears as an area, not the factory/plantation we know of today.

    https://imgur.com/ywmytJG

    One hundred years later on the 1775 Jeffreys Map it appears also as an area and in the plural, Foursquares.

    https://imgur.com/4tVinSe

    The Quaker Meeting that was close to Four Roads is apparent.

    Is Four Square in some way perhaps related to Quakerism?

    I figure so.

    Quaker Meeting Houses like those of the Puritans before them had no front or back but were organized so entry was from all four points of the compass with no one able to occupy the front rows.

    That symbolized the equal access to their Meeting House to all and sundry from whatever direction they came.


  7. Slang for C₂₁H₃₀O₂ is Bob

    Bob Marley — ‘Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.’


  8. I bought a bottle of Foursquare and found it too expensive for the taste. I have had better Jamaican and Guyanese rums. But I don’t know if they won any awards.


  9. McCoy is the Black Distiller. He had de real McCoy and gets no credit…You were making reference to Macaw Rum.


  10. re Poor John, everything is quakerism.
    instead poor fool DAME BAJANS
    THE FACTS ARE THAT THE QUAKERS DID PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF BARBADOS——A SUBJECT THAT HAS NOT BEEN WELL TAUGHT IN OUR SCHOOLS
    THE FACTS ARE THAT SEVERAL PLANTATIONS AND VILLAGES WERE NAMED AFTER THE QUAKERS
    THIS HISTORY WAS WELL PRESENTED ON THE STOP AND STARE WALKS IN THE 90’S
    AT LEAST THE QUAKERS WERE REAL
    QUITE UNLIKE SOME INEPT SUPREME LEADER SO CALLED—–SHE IS NOW EVEN BEEN SAID TO BE ALL POWERFUL

    JOHN , PLEASE CONTINUE TO TELL US ABOUT THE QUAKERS
    YOUR POSTS ARE EDUCATIONAL AND ENLIGHTENING


  11. Foursquare has a rum labelled the Real McCoy. In fact several different versions, 5, 8, 12 yr etc.

    It would be interesting to know how many different products Foursquare produces, as many are ‘limited runs’.

    @Dame
    I would agree the few products seen from Foursquare at the LCBO are overpriced and not worth the $$. However you can find Doorleys XO $20, and R.L.Seale 10 $23.99 (the one in the bent shaped black bottle) both of which are very drinkable.

    The flip side, is the other day I went into a so called ‘Rum Bar’ in Florida. It was interesting to note they had in other spirit categories, at least one high end. Grey Goose, JW Black and Glenmorangie, etc, but in rum Mount Gay Eclipse and Bacardi 5 were the “best” they had. Foursquare has addressed the high end level in Rum.


    • Isn’t rum like most liquors an acquired taste? The blogmaster is reluctant to use the word good or bad when describing liquor.


  12. GPMarch 8, 2022 1:27 PM

    JOHN , PLEASE CONTINUE TO TELL US ABOUT THE QUAKERS
    YOUR POSTS ARE EDUCATIONAL AND ENLIGHTENING

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Will do and thanks.

    The intention is to educate and enlighten although I have to admit I also get some mirth out of some of the responses.


  13. LawsonMarch 8, 2022 1:33 PM

    Herbert Hoover was a quaker, ….hoovers all over the island

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    A teachable moment on BU!!

    Before he became President, Herbert Hoover was Secretary of Commerce and directed Famine Relief to the Russia and the Ukraine from the Spring of 1921 during the Great Russian Famine, another way the West reached out to Russia and for Grasshopper’s edification, another Quaker link to Russia.

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/127297

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/40108146

    Hoover studied geology at Stanford when it first opened and worked around the world.

    He was also an engineer.

    The Hoover Dam on the Colorado River memorializes his contribution to his nation’s life was opened in 1933 and there is also the Hoover Institution.

    Clearly he left his mark on the world, as did other Quakers before him and that’s why it is so easy to find a Quaker link to most countries.


  14. Congratulations to the owners and directors of RL Seale &Co on achieving this signal honour. This is who we are. We aim for excellence. Let us hope that this company remains in local hands.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    WHO IS WE?

    THE WHITE MAN ON THE 2 x3 ISLAND GETTING RICHER AND RICHER WHILST THEIR WORKERS CATCHING HELL LIVVING FROM PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK.

    THAT IS HOW IT IS ON THE ISLAND START LIVING IN REALITY.


    • Here it is we have a best in class company that is local. This company has won a prestigious award for its product. This is a company producing product that is exported to generate foreign exchange. The blogmaster again extends congratulations on behalf of the BU household to the Seale family and team.


  15. Quite surprising here because Foursquare has been winning prestigious awards for sometime now !
    @ David
    You are correct about taste in liquor it’s really no different from sweet drinks. We all have different tastes and choices.
    That being said ,most connoisseurs, will may agree that Mount Gay ( Barbados) and El Dorado ( Guyana) are very good brands.


  16. HantsMarch 8, 2022 6:59 PM

    https://www.visitbarbados.org/things-to-do/experiences/birthplace-of-rum?pageindex=1

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Yet another teachable moment.

    You all realize that the Gay family was an early QUAKER family.

    The earliest will I see from that family was of a Dr. William Gay written in 1655 and probated in 1660.

    It describes his plantation in St. Lucy and names Roger Jones as his Friend , i.e. he and Roger Jones were members of the Society of Friends.

    There is a Thomas Gay, writing his will in 1656, probated in 1657.

    He names as his Friend, Captain Tobias Frere and Christopher Carew.

    The brother of Christopher Carew was a surgeon and was buried in 1680 on the plantation where I live.

    The brother’s name was also John.

    Alcoholic beverages were consumed at the time because in their brewing and distillation, all harmful bacteria were eradicated making them safe to drink than water.

    Many Quakers in the UK and also in the colonies in America were brewers and no doubt started making rum here long before 1703 which is the year Mount Gay Rum is “supposed” to arrived on the scene in Barbados.

    So “Barbados Rum” is actually one more example of Quaker industry.


  17. DavidMarch 8, 2022 1:31 PM

    Isn’t rum like most liquors an acquired taste? The blogmaster is reluctant to use the word good or bad when describing liquor.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Another teachable moment.

    Ale, beer, rum were safe alternative to water.


  18. INDEED JOHN
    MAKES PERFECT SENSE
    THIS WAS THE REASON PAUL ENJOINED TIMOTHY TO TAKE A LITTLE FERMENTED WINE (ONIOS NOT GLUCOS) FOR THE STOMACH’S SAKE


  19. “Ale, beer, rum were safe alternative to water.”

    but alcohol does not hydrate you
    alcohol dehydrates you.
    Alcohol is a diuretic. It causes your body to remove fluids from your blood through your renal system, which includes the kidneys, ureters, and bladder, at a much quicker rate than other liquids. If you don’t drink enough water with alcohol, you can become dehydrated quickly.
    if you alternate alcohol with glasses of water like Australians do you may be ok


  20. The other popular drink in the 17th century was Madeira wine.

    Madeira was a port of call on the way to the East Indies and the Colonies of America of which Barbados was one.

    Wine was made there for sale to the ships plying the Atlantic and around the Cape of Good Hope to the East Indies.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira_wine


  21. @ John March 8, 2022 7:48 PM
    (Quote):
    Many Quakers in the UK and also in the colonies in America were brewers and no doubt started making rum here long before 1703 which is the year Mount Gay Rum is “supposed” to arrived on the scene in Barbados.
    So “Barbados Rum” is actually one more example of Quaker industry.
    (Unquote).
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Sir John, why can’t you give credit where it is clearly due?

    Arguing that the Quakers ‘discovered’ rum (or to be exact, Kill-Divill) is as much folly as perpetuating the myth that Colonel Sanders ‘invented’ Southern-fried chicken.

    Rum or kill-the-devil was ‘discovered,’ through consumption, by the black slaves as a serendipitous by-product in the production of raw sugar.

    The same way the black slaves- who were taken from West Africa to the Southern parts of North America- enhanced significantly the taste of the Scottish style of frying chicken by adding those secret herbal ingredients.

    It is true that those good old Christian Quakers made money from the subsequent improvements to the quality of the r(h)um bullion for export the same way the mock colonel Sanders became rich and famous from franchising his ‘stolen’ recipe.

    Next time around your mulberry bush you could be just as adamant in your twisting of Bajan history by contending that Sir John Redman Bovell was a Quaker and “discovered” the art of breeding sugar cane which saved the industry in Barbados (and the wider Caribbean) from extinction due to genetic cloning.

    But the country does miss the entrepreneurial spirit of Quakerism. How well they would be performing in bringing the inchoate marijuana business to above-board profitability commercial respectability and legalized standing; just like rum.


  22. Been thinking alot about the Quaker, Herbert Hoover and the millions he saved in the famine induce by Stalin and Lenin in 1921-22.

    https://www.c-span.org/video/?466620-1/american-relief-administration-1921-22-soviet-famine

    The second famine, 1931-32, was a genocide designed to eliminate the Kulaks as a class.

    The New York Times and its Moscow correspondent purposely hid the famine and glorified Stalin.

    No help came as it had done for the 1921-22 famine because Stalin wanted to wipe the Kulak class off the earth.

    Herbert Hoover as President (1929 – 1933) was in the midst of the Great Depression and the mid west was a dustbowl.

    https://www.mnopedia.org/agricultural-depression-1920-1934

    By the time Hitler came to power in 1933, Stalin had seen to the extermination of millions of his own people.


  23. @ John March 8, 2022 11:36 PM
    (Quote):
    Been thinking alot about the Quaker, Herbert Hoover and the millions he saved in the famine induce by Stalin and Lenin in 1921-22.
    (Unquote).
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Why don’t you tell us about the other “Hoover”; J. Edgar the first FBI Chief?

    In addition to being in the ‘closet’ was he also from a Quaker family of witch-hunters?

    After all, (s)he J.E. would fit perfectly your measure of a true gentleman; anti-communist, anti-black, anti-woman.


  24. Historians seldom agree on anything, but there is agreement around them that Herbert Hoover was one of the worst Presidents of the USA but all that matters to John is that he was a Quaker.

    BTW he was an avowed racist a hater of Black and Brown people who deported 2 million Mexicans from the US. So much for Quaker Christianity and beneficence
    +++++++
    HERBERT HOOVER WAS CONSIDERED A RACIST BY MANY OF HIS black contemporaries. W. E. B. Dubois, the great civil rights leader, charged Hoover with being an undemocratic racist who saw blacks as a species of “sub-men.”‘ Walter White, the Exe cutive Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during Hoover’s presidency, con temptuously referred to Hoover as “the man in the lily-White House.”^ Even Robert R. Moton, the conservative successor to Booker T. Washington as political advisor to Republican presidents on the “race question,” came to believe that by his actions as president. Hoover had shown his contempt for blacks.^ Dissatisfaction with Hoover among blacks was widespread during his administration. John Hope Franklin, the dean of black historians, argues convincingly that Hoover was largely re sponsible for laying the foundation for disaffection of blacks from the Republican party during his presidency.” Much of the black criticism of Hoover was due to his south ern policy as president. The first Republican since reconstruc tion to break the solid South in 1928, Hoover moved to consoli date his southern victory by openly purging blacks from the leadership positions in the southern wing of the G.O.P. with the ‘The Crisis, XXXV (May. 1928), 168. ‘Walter White, A Man Cailed White (New York: The Viking Press, 1948), 102. ‘Letter. Moton to Newton. April 18, 1930, Parker file. Presidential Papers. Herbert Hoover Papers (HHP), Herbert Hoover Presidential Library (HHPL). ‘John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), 524. 507 T HE ANNALS OF IOWA expressed purpose of attracting southern whites to join the party of Lincoln.


  25. By 1922, before Hitler even became household name in Germany, Stalin and Lenin (Communism) had killed more people than Hitler killed Jews in the Holocauast.

    Lenin died in 1924.

    The second genocide Stalin was responsible for was in 1932 – 33 when he set out to eradicate the Kulaks and that was before Hitler even came to power.

    The famine of the 1930’s in the Ukraine was called the Holodomor, and no one in the Soviet Union was allowed to even mention the word.

    Remarkable how closely the word Holocaust and Holodomor resemble one another.


  26. MTA/Sarge

    The old racist trick doesn’t work anymore.

    It has been overused against individuals and no longer works.

    You would need to dig into the anals of the Trans Saharan slave trade to find anything remotely similar to what Stalin/Lenin did or what subsequently Hitler did.

    Hitler’s headcount was far smaller than Lenin or Stalin.

    Chairman Mao is also worth examining too.

    Fascism, Communism, Marxism and Socialism are Godless ideologies and where racism is to be found.

    Racism is used as a tool of those ideologies to divide peoples and achieve the goals of the State.

    Hoover and the ARA saved over 10 million people in the Soviet Union and still Lenin/Stalin were able to kill over six million in 1921 -22, just two years, less than half the duration of WWII.

    Yes, Hoover’s presidency was a disaster but there is no evidence he killed anybody.

    … and yes, he was a Quaker and as we all know, Quakers were also responsible for legally ending slavery in the World, to mention just one of their contributions to mankind.

    Go see if you can find another group of humans which has made contributions even remotely similar to humankind and if you manage to, within that group you will find Christianity.


  27. ON THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE WE HAVE PUNK BIDEN VS PUTIN ET ALITER
    ON BU WE HAVE JOHN THE BARBADOS SCHOLAR VS THE BU SEMI ILITERATES
    VERY HILARIOUS AND MOST ENTERTAINING


  28. @John
    The old racist trick doesn’t work anymore
    +++++++++
    This from a man who continually brought up Sen. Robert Byrd (Democrat) and his connection to the KKK on these pages. Now we observe a Quaker who has feet of clay and John says, “No Mas”.

    John if you can’t stand the heat stay out of the kitchen


  29. Once you descend to calling Hoover a racist you are saying there is no answer to the logic.

    You need to target Lawson for bringing up Hoover as a Quaker.

    Lawson keeping quiet before he gets called a racist.

    Don’t worry your head Lawson, by now everybody knows Sarge and Miller don’t have a leg to stand on!!


  30. “ON BU WE HAVE JOHN THE BARBADOS SCHOLAR VS THE BU SEMI ILITERATES”

    it seems like the Barbados Scholars must have done a lot of fagging


  31. RE John if you can’t stand the heat stay out of the kitchen
    LOL MURDAH
    THE BU INTELLECTUAL KITCHEN IS MORE LIKE A FREEZER
    LOOK WHO TALKING NOW, THE EXPERT ON PHARMACOLOGY.
    SARGE, YOU REMIND ME OF THE SARGE IN ZORRO MOVIES OF OUR CHILDHOOD


  32. Go see if you can find another group of humans which has made contributions even remotely similar to humankind and if you manage to, within that group you will find Christianity.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    I’ll give you a hint, they started from the same countries as the Puritans but went east!!

    … and they are farmers!!


  33. @ John March 9, 2022 8:50 AM
    (Quote):
    Go see if you can find another group of humans which has made contributions even remotely similar to humankind and if you manage to, within that group you will find Christianity.
    (Unquote).
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    And all along we thought that the Jews held that pride of place by being your Yahweh’s chosen people!

    Yes indeed Pres. HH was a Quaker! So why, then, didn’t he push for the passing of anti-lynching laws during his presidency?

    Why leave up to FDR’s Lady Eleanor to be the presidential torchbearer against lynching and other civil rights violations making her a true ‘Christian Quaker’ instead of your slave-owning quacks?

    You might be a b(l)uffer when it comes to Bajan slave history; but please step aside to give way to our own “Sargeant” when it comes to world history; especially North American.


  34. |THE BU INTELLECTUAL KITCHEN IS MORE LIKE A FREEZER
    LOOK WHO TALKING NOW, THE EXPERT ON PHARMACOLOGY.|

    these lower black people should know their place said the bajan scholars
    who don’t see truth as an actuality
    and talk monotonous bullshit


  35. John dont worry about me. I am just waiting for the usual no proof Baje et all allegations that the Quakers used to make rum out of old slaves rather than applaud bajans for a bright spot in a lackluster economy.


  36. JOHN NEEDS TO LEARN THE BIBLICAL TENET AND NOT THROW PEARLS TO SWINE
    I KNOW HOW HARD THAT IS THOUGH, BUT IT MUST BE DONE LOL

    EDUCATORS AND THE WELL EDUCATED SEEK TO SHARE WHAT THEY KNOW
    BU BRIBBLERS AND RUM SHOP ATTENDEES JUST ATTACK ATTACK ATACK BUT CAN NOT ADD MUCH OF SUBSTANCE HERE
    LET ME SAY IT FOR THE ATTACKERS
    STEUPSE

    THE LEVEL OF MORALE IS SO LOW IN BIM THAT SOME ARE HARPING AT A WIN OF AN AWARD AT A RUM SHOW AND CONTEST

    HAVE WE NOT BEEN MAKING GOOD RUM FOR AGES (I CANT SAY AS I HAVE NEVER GOT INTO RUMDRINKING)
    SO THEN WHY WOULD YOU NOT WIN RUM COMPETIONS JUST AS THE FLOWER SOCIETY WIN AT CHELSEA ANNUALLY?


  37. The local firewater rum that you buy and fill up your own bottles with is much stronger than product made for export market
    you drink it straight followed by a glass of water so you stomach does not bleed
    and light up a doob to mellow


  38. John dont worry about me. I am just waiting for the usual no proof Baje et all allegations that the Quakers used to make rum out of old slaves rather than applaud bajans for a bright spot in a lackluster economy.

    Xxxxxxxxxxxx

    WHITES ALWAYS DEFEND WHITES.

    WHO AMONG THEIR BLACK WORKERS AND BLACK MANAGERS LIVE ANYWHERE CLOSE TO THE LIFESTYLE LIKE THE 3 BAJAN WHITES PICTURED IN THE ARTICLE.

    MOST BLACK WORKERS STILL CATCHING HELL LIVING PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK WORKING FOR “AWARD WINNING” WHITE RUM PRODUCERS ON THE 2 X 3 ISLAND.


  39. again no facts or numbers just rhetoric

    Xxxxxxxx

    SINCE YOU HAVE THE FACTS PROVE ME WRONG.

    I WOULD APOLOGIZE WHITE MASTER.

    MOST BLACK WORKERS STILL CATCHING HELL LIVING PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK WORKING FOR “AWARD WINNING” WHITE RUM PRODUCERS ON THE 2 X 3 ISLAND.


  40. JohnMarch 9, 2022 10:13 AM

    Go see if you can find another group of humans which has made contributions even remotely similar to humankind and if you manage to, within that group you will find Christianity.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    I’ll give you a hint, they started from the same countries as the Puritans but went east!!

    … and they are farmers!!

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Another hint!!

    The Bible, and more specifically the New Testament was the driving force.

    The Reformation provided the translations of the Bible into their respective languages and they came to believe what was meant for them to believe.

    Persecution for their beliefs in the New Covenant with all mankind drove them out and as they moved, they spread the Good News to all they met, just like those who moved west to the New World.

    Instead, they moved East.


  41. Religions come from the East.
    West call themselves Christian,
    but, are they true Christian souls,
    or Pagan, Heathen, Demon Devils.

    They must be ungodly false Christians


  42. @Lawron
    This talk about Foursquare winning a prestigious award and the fuss being made here shows that for all the Barbadiana some of you claim to love; you know little of what’s going on.
    Both Mount Gay and Foursquare have been winning international awards for donkey years now.
    I recently visited a brand new multi million liquor store and Mount Gay Eclipse was there on the shelf. Quite frankly rum is by far the best known Bajan export product and a major foreign exchange earner for decades.
    Sir David Seale and his family, if they read BU , are probably having a good chuckle and asking themselves: where the he’ll have these jokers been.
    Reading this is almost embarrassing because this is certainly not the first time that Foursquare has won an international award.
    It’s a known fact that we Bajans know very little about what goes on in Bim. I attended an international marketing show about fifteen years ago. On display was a department of Cafe Shepherd and company. The representative was the wife of a prominent Bajan corporate leader, who leased that department of Cave Shepherd. They were not representing Cave Shepherd, only the department of the store . But who would have known that !
    Sometimes we don’t have a clue.
    BTW, one of these days we may probably learn about the family, who to this day , still controls the port.
    But that’s another story.


    • @William

      You are suggesting because FourSquare won awards in the past we should not celebrate the recent recognition?


  43. WILLIAM
    I LEARNED A SIMILAR LESSON IN THE EARLY 90’S ATTENDING TRADE SHOWS AT JAVITTS CENTER IN NY
    WHEN I WAS INTERESTED IN GETTING INTO IMPORT/EXPORT


  44. @ William
    I am saying that it’s strange we are celebrating it as if it’s a first for Foursquare. I’m not suggesting that we don’t celebrate.
    In other words, this certainly will not be surprising to those who have been following brand’s achievements.


    • @William

      Fine, let us celebrate with the FourSquare team this world wide recognition. This is a Barbados rum, produced by a local company company continuing a rich family tradition.


  45. William here are a few things I know are going on, more people know about Rianna than your rums, In all the bars I have drank at in my home town you had a better chance of finding lemonheart than cockspur or mt. gay .. The only time one bar had eclipse was because I had them bring it in. I dont follow rum awards I was just happy a bajan won something that wasnt a darwin award.


  46. @Lawson
    What Cockspur? You haven’t found that in Ontario in donkeys years. Not even in a rum favouring areas on the East Coast.
    Likely why WIRR sold, they couldn’t market effectively.
    Which makes Seales achievement all the more meaningful.
    A lone wolf vs all the global spirit houses, is a major feat these days. Mt Gay and Appleton are both owned by mega powers in the alcohol game.


    • A reasonable expectation is that any Bajan be they white black or other should be pleased Barbados is able to compete in any business line on the global stage. You can’t make this stuff up.


  47. Is this a new award or is the award which was reported in the Press in November 2021? Cheese on Bread and people in a cufuffle .

    Congrats to the Seales, next time I’m on the rock I’ll be sure to sample some of your products and if the local Gov’t run outfit in the GWN has any I’ll be sure to purchase a bottle.


  48. Today in a large Florida alcohol retailer, I found…Alleyne Arthur, Doorleys (3), Real McCoy, Foursquare Spiced, R.l.Seale 10 + 12. But none of the higher end Foursquare runs.
    Stades WHite and Amber from WIRR, 3 Plantation Brands, plus 3 from MtGay, the XO, eclipse and black barrel.
    No Cockspur.
    If my memory is accurate, the Cockspur, Stades and J&R brands were sold separate to the WIRR.


  49. @ David March 9, 2022 6:02 PM
    (Quote):
    A reasonable expectation is that any Bajan be they white black or other should be pleased Barbados is able to compete in any business line on the global stage. You can’t make this stuff up.
    (Unquote).
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Well said!

    That’s why Barbados has to produce more ‘home-grown’ molasses to continue to make her Rums ‘uniquely special’.

    The Bajan brand of rum, through the ages, has always been special among connoisseurs.

    Why allow the country’s reputation and credentials to be brought into question if the home of the mother of all rums has to depend 100% on imported burnt-cane molasses of questionable authenticity?


    • @William that matter was deal with on another rum blog a few months ago. Many are unaware of such these matters, such is our ignorance about current affairs.


  50. My favourite tipple is Courvoisier
    A 750 ml bottle of Courvoisier Cognac VS costs $20 while a bottle of Courvoisier VSOP costs $30. Older blends, such as Courvoisier XO, cost at least $100, while a bottle of L’Esprit de Courvoisier will set you back around $4,500.


  51. To be fair, if one searches BU for the words Mount Gay one can find a never of informative posts and comments.

    One can also use the search term rum and you will get the same hits and a lot more extra. Guess what else pops up when you use rum


  52. @ David
    It goes to show that we are not strict guardians of our heritage.Our only successful indigenous product is owned by the same slave masters.
    All of this talk about food supply is only prevalent because of a tending World War 3.
    So, we want Chinese styled houses and our rum belongs to the French.
    Are we for sale; are we being sold or have we been sold already for the second time.
    However, there apparently is a very bright light. Our PM will soon address the WTO.


    • @William

      A read about the challenges being faced by the rum industry makes it a complicated business.


  53. @ Miller who wrote ” That’s why Barbados has to produce more ‘home-grown’ molasses to continue to make her Rums ‘uniquely special’.

    100% Bajan. That can add value to the product.


    • @Hants

      Ensuring rum is 100% local is a good objective but it does not address the competitive challenges faced by the industry.


  54. “Our only successful indigenous product is owned by the same slave masters.”

    this is a trend all over except for the slave masters trope
    French Courvoisier is owned by a Japanese Holding Company


  55. There is an expression ‘every man has a price’. If the desire is to have a lot of money and issues such as patriotism, national interest and national pride are not at the front of the decision making, then everything is for sale.

    We look at issues in bits and pieces. But it is broader than selling large companies. Foreigners can compete with locals to purchase almost anything. We see the bed as it is going through the door, but do not notice the removal of pots and pans.

    We.have never acknowledged our limitations. In fact, the reverse is true. We claim that we punch well above our weight and talk of being on the world stage.


  56. If you look at the value in todays currency, you will realise that it was peanuts!!

    The real value of Barbados was in trade and transshipment as a revictualling port.

    It was all about position, position position!!


  57. Here comes a fool down the 🐇/🐰 hole. I should really do my own googling instead of taking the bait ….

    Why the decline in 1688 – 1691?

    Rabbit got bait😀


  58. Lots of the old guard Quakers died in the 1680’s and 90’s.

    That’s evident in the wills in existence.

    Also, lots of Quakers were leaving for Pennsylvania after it became an option after 1681.

    Also 1688 was the year of the Glorious Revolution in England where William of Orange and his wife, the daughter of Charles 1, became king and Queen of England.

    King James 1 died leaving his brother who was Roman Catholic to be the new King.

    William and his wife Mary were invited by Parliament to become the Protestant King and Queen of England.

    Lots of upheavals.


  59. That’s why Orange Hill is a place name in St. James and a plantation name in St. Peter.

    That’s also why there is an Orange Fort in Speightstown.

    William of Orange ot the house of Orange – Nassau also left his name in the Bahamas.

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