French owner wants rum industry, Govt to work out lucrative label

The French owner of the Barbadian rum distillery whose objections stalled the island’s bid for a geographic indication (GI) that would stamp rum as a Barbadian product has urged fellow distillers and the Government to sit around the table to work out the issues.

“‘Rum is Barbados and Barbados is rum;’ I am quoting the Prime Minister and we fully agree,” Alexandre Gabriel, owner of West Indies Rum Distillery, producer of the iconic Cockspur brand, told Barbados TODAY in an interview. “We are having discussions, but it has to be at the point where the Government and all stakeholders are in line.”

A GI is a sign that specifies that a project originated from a particular place. The qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product depend on its place of origin. It also outlines several specifications.

Early this month, three main distillers, Richard Seale of Foursquare, Larry Warren of St Nicholas Abbey and Raphael Grisoni of Mount Gay Distilleries accused the Government of dithering on a geographical indication (GI) to protect Barbados rum.

Barbados, the long-acknowledged birthplace of rum, continues to lose precious economic earnings without the protection of a GI, they charged.

But it emerged that a GI would present a complication for a fourth distillery – the island’s second oldest – West Indies Rum Distillery, which ages some of its Barbadian-made rum in France.

West Indies Rum Distilleries, owned by Gabriel’s Maison Ferrand and dating back to 1893, now produces the Plantation brand, some of which is aged outside Barbados.

The original proposal for the GI, originally backed by Foursquare, St Nicholas Abbey and Mount Gay, would require Barbados rum to be aged here with local water, only pot and column stills and without added sugar, among other specifications.

A proposal was prepared by the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (Export Barbados) and presented to the registrar about two years ago. But it was blocked after West Indies Rum Distillery baulked at the implications.

Not only are some blends of Plantation Rum aged outside of Barbados but they also use added sugar which would force Maison Ferrand to remove “Barbados” from its rum labels were the GI to come into force.

Chief Executive Officer of Export Barbados, Mark Hill, said a strictly scientific approach to the process must be completed first before any official labelling can be done.

Hill, in the job at the helm of the state export promoter since late April, told Barbados TODAY that a GI would require rum producers to come up with sustainability practices and clear strategies for growing exports.

“Export Barbados roots and makes its decisions based on data,” said Hill. “We use scientific data to make our decisions and we will not be rushed. Our stuff has to be sound so there is scientific credibility to everything that we are saying.”

Hill did not give a timeline for when the GI could possibly be ready.

But Gabriel said that though he understood the arguments of both sides, the State and the industry would have to agree on a cohesive approach towards protecting the industry in order to protect the value and legacy of Barbados rum.

He told Barbados TODAY: “Of course stakeholders may have different points of views, and our hope is that there is a GI that includes the heritage and tradition of the distilleries and the stakeholders of Barbados, but also a GI that encourages outsiders to come and invest in Barbados, [and] to partake into the beautiful history of rum.

“A GI – yes when all stakeholders are in agreement, but [all of us] are really working hard so that Barbados rum continues to develop and serve [the island].”

Gabriel stressed that any finalized GI blueprint must be fair and just to all in the industry as it will serve as Barbados’s rum identity in the global marketplace for many years to come.

Just like other Barbadian rum producers, West Indies Rum Distillery saw an initial slump in demand for its products at the beginning of the pandemic. But in an impressive rebound, Barbados rum has been in high demand from the latter half of 2020 until now.

Gabriel declared: “For the first time in the history of Barbados, thanks to all of the stakeholders in rum [including] West Indian Rum Distilleries, it will be $100 million in exports we think [in the last] 18 months. It’s the first time that number would have been hit in Barbados.”

“The Prime Minister has stated that rum in the years to come, should aim at 1 billion dollars in exports to serve the country. I think it’s like [President] Kennedy saying we should go to the moon, this is this type of leadership that is good for rum.

“Rum from Barbados is one of the most premium spirits – I am optimistic, we are going to work extremely hard to make this happen.”

As the pandemic grew, Gabriel’s distillery turned its attention to producing alcohol-based sanitisers to help in the COVID fight.

“We produced the equivalent of one million little bottles of hand sanitiser you can keep in your pocket for the country of Barbados, so we like everybody felt worried about the future, but right away we asked ourselves what can we do, and that is what we did in the pandemic in terms of helping and being a stakeholder in the community,” Gabriel said.

Despite setbacks caused by COVID, namely the disruptions of the worldwide supply chain, the Maison Ferrand owner said the goal is to raise Barbados rum exports to a billion-dollar industry over the next five years. (SB)