The country’s 318-year-old rum distillery on Thursday launched a limited-edition blend to celebrate the republic – toasting to its own good fortunes despite the downturn in the global economy fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the launch of its Republic Blend, Mount Gay Distilleries’ Managing Director Raphael Grisoni said: “High-end rum is an industry that has been growing in double digits over the last five years. Despite the pandemic, our exports grew by nine per cent, and following our investment of $30 million over the last three years, over the next four years we will double that figure to $60 million to expand our capacity.”
He added that the company has also been reducing its carbon footprint as Barbados seeks to go fossil fuel-free by 2030. “We were the first to deploy solar technology at our distillery and we have so far reduced our carbon output by 30 per cent,” he said.
In describing the blend, Master Blender Trudiann Branker, the first woman to hold that post, said Republic Blend is “crafted in celebration of the island’s transition to a republic and its attributes are unique in that it showcases our oldest reserves of pot and column rum dating between 10 and 30 years. It has a hint of traditional Mount Gay flavour combined with vanilla, dark chocolate, banana and oak, and has 45 per cent alcohol content.”
The blend will be limited to 195 bottles available from November 30 at a cost of $250 from Mount Gay’s Visitor Centre at Brandons and “selected exclusive on-trade accounts.” Prime Minister Mia Mottley said that Barbados and Mount Gay’s journey over the years have had much in common.
She said: “This blend reflects the excellence of Mount Gay and Barbados as a whole, and it is commendable that Mount Gay has invested $30 million in Barbados when it was going through an IMF programme, and the fact that you are investing more despite the challenges we have faced this year with a pandemic, ashfall, a storm and a hurricane is indicative of the confidence you have in Barbados.”
Mottley said that before year-end, she is planning to hold meetings with figures in the sugar industry to determine a new direction for the industry. She said: “We need to be strategic in moving forward with the sugar industry. We cannot have a three-month power factory anymore; we need to move to a twelve-month one, and the reality is that Government can no longer afford to underwrite the sugar industry.”
Some of the key areas she stressed were power generation and value-added products. “We must reach the stage where all sugar consumed in Barbados is locally produced, not only for consumers in general but also the granulated sugar found in hotels,” said the prime minister.
Commenting on the transition to a republic on Independence Day, she said: “Many ask why now, but the truth is, the greatest test of a country is when it has to go through something major, as the world is now. If we can forge a national identity and build a platform from which we can become a beacon to the rest of the world, the time to do so is now.” (DH)
