Rums of St. Nicholas Abbey

Our motto “Quality & Tradition” tells it all!  We are proud to produce a premium, genuinely single cask rum here at the St. Nicholas Abbey.  Cane Field to Cask – Cask to Bottle.

Premium rum is the future of the rum industry, as it is a unique spirit that provides a wide and varied palate to an ever more discerning consumer.  Barbados, “The Birthplace of Rum”, is recognised as a quality producer of fine rum and St. Nicholas Abbey has taken a more patient and unique path towards premiumisation in that we cherish the handcrafted approach to rum making, and in every aspect we pay homage to the production of rum on a barrel by barrel basis, thereby creating a true single cask rum.  Every barrel has its own surprise and subtle characteristic, which provides the consumer with an opportunity to experience and own part of a very limited edition… 300 bottles from each barrel.

St. Nicholas Abbey began its rum production in 2009 but the plantation has had a long history of sugarcane production.  Established over 350 years ago, the plantation first produced sugar syrup.  However; when Larry Warren and family purchased the property in 2006 they sought to produce a premium unblended single cask rum from the cane syrup, a departure from traditional molasses-based rum production found throughout the Caribbean.

The unique process begins with sugar cane grown on the plantation lands.  An old variety of cane with a higher sugar content was planted which is now the sugar essence used in our fermenters, and, unlike most of the rums produced in the ex British West Indies, it is entirely produced from cane juice or syrup.

Canes are harvested by hand between the months of January and June, and crushed in the restored circa Fletcher’s 1890 steam mill, where visitors can view the whole process and taste the raw sugar cane. Whilst the rum is made from cane syrup, and not molasses, as was historically used, it is of a very high purity, not to be confused with Rum Agricola made by the French, who distill at a much lower purity. 

The still “Annabelle” is both a pot and a column, producing rum in a two barrel batch, and handcrafted at the still from a recipe that provides a white rum with a creamy bouquet and dry powdered icing sugar freshness – but with no sugar added!!  A real NO, NO!!! in genuine rum production. The resulting rum is barrelled and aged in seasoned Bourbon white oak casks, and upon maturation, hand bottled straight from the cask with no blending, colouring or intervention other than dilution. Just natural ageing; one cask at a time!  And, every bottle is numbered and dated.

Our ethos is “Quality & Tradition” as we identify with the consumer’s vision of an artisan product with an authentic pedigree.  This responsibility to the consumer is not taken lightly and we strive to maintain the vision by constantly re-evaluating our processes and deliberately maintain low volumes in spite of demand, so that our production volume does not dictate the way we produce our rums.

Today,  the Rums of St. Nicholas Abbey are considered an important brand world-wide and are founded on “Quality and Tradition”.  Growing our own sugarcane, we are the only distillery in Barbados that truly go from “Cane Field to Cask” and  “Cask to Bottle”, and the Rums of St. Nicholas Abbey are only sold in Barbados; on the property, ensuring that the story continues….but are exported in small batch mainly to the U.K., European countries, Canada and as far afield as Hong Kong.  A rare single cask rum with authenticity and integrity as a pledge to our valued consumer.

Explore the gardens and property of this plantation and learn about sugar cane processing from the hand cutting of the canes, grinding in the steam mill, syrup production, distillation and hand bottling of the rum.  Also, don’t miss out on the tasting of these exceptional rums and the personalised engraving  on that very special bottle!

Contact us at: (246) 422-5357

Email: heritagetourism@stnicholasabbey.com

www.stnicholasabbey.com

St. Nicholas Abbey is open Sunday – Friday from 10:00am until last tour at 3:30pm