Tuesday April 12. Vacation mode is strong with us.
After making the hardest decision of the day (which bathing suit to wear), we drifted down to the pool one by one to have coffee and maybe swim a bit and read a book. Then we moved our swimming to the ocean to do some snorkeling. It was a brilliantly sunny day so the snorkeling was likewise extra brilliant, in that the fish were more vibrant and the water even more clear.
Today’s adventure was a Mount Gay rum tasting & tour. The 3-hour long fancy tours take place at the distillery proper, but they also run a short, 1-hour tasting out of the gift shop / bottling plant in Bridgetown. Guess which we picked?
Mount Gay is the world’s oldest commercial rum distillery, and they have an original 1703 deed to prove it. Under the tutelage of Sir John Gay Alleyne the company went from producing firewater that might literally kill you to carefully nurturing beautiful rum. The Mount Gay Master Blender is Trudiann Branker, who is the first woman to hold the position, and the the youngest.
We tasted 4 kinds of rum after the very short run-through of the history of rum-making in Barbados.
- Silver. This is a mixing rum. In other words, it’s pretty similar to the firewater of old, except that it’s probably less likely to kill you. It’s clear due to it’s lack of barrel aging and tastes like alcohol. Probably a good rum & coke option.
- Eclipse. Aged in American Whiskey barrels for 2-7 years, it’s basically Silver with caramel notes. It’s also strongly recommended as a mixing rum. I suggest egg nog.
- Black Barrel. The most versatile and for people who only want one bottle of rum in their collection, this one can be mixed or enjoyed straight up. It is aged first in American Whiskey barrels and then adds additional aging in Bourbon casks. It’s definitely an improvement over the Eclipse, but still probably something I would only use for mixing. I’m imaging a nice Dark and Stormy.
- XO. We were assured by the host that this rum is only for sipping. It’s aged one additional time in Cognac casks and it’s definitely smoother and more enjoyable than the first three.
Our cab ride out and back was another delightful experience. Our driver was funny and super-cynical. He complained about the guard at the Mount Gay Gift Shop, telling us he would be sitting on his butt watching Netflix and wouldn’t move an inch to bring us the guest book so we’d have to go in and get signed in. He was dead-on, right down to the Netflix. On the way home, we asked if Rhianna owned the mansion next to us. She doesn’t, but he did point out her 21.8M condo just down the road. He also had no reservations about revealing that the owner of the mansion in question was English gambler, bookie, racehorse owner , and likely member of the Irish Mafia, Michael Tabor. Sounds like a fun neighbour!
We had dinner at Enid’s, a nicer restaurant than the other resort options, and the food was delicious. Except that Jeff found an empty one-pill blister-pack in his soup that was disturbing. Did the pill get taken by someone who accidentally dropped the package into the soup, or did the pill also fall in and get absorbed by the soup??? He sent the soup back, and later received a heartfelt apology from the manager who said the food services manager would be contacting him. Meanwhile, the soup continuing to be served to other unsuspecting guests. Ewww! Back at the room, the food services manager called and Jeff had to head over to fill out an incident report. I suggested he mention the continued serving of the pill soup as a bit of a problem.
