Barbados is famous for its legendary rum shop scene. Get a few tips from Totally Barbados.com about which of the island’s watering holes are worth a visit.
Barbados LIKES You
Barbados has turned to social media to spread their tourism message and wants to reward you for listening. Rum, beer and hotel stays are all up for grabs.
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The Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) proudly announces that their Facebook page has reached over 50,000 fans! In celebration of this milestone and to reward loyal followers, the BTA is providing 50 days of prize giveaways, including grand prize trips to the island, as part of their “Barbados Likes You” Facebook promotion.
For 50 consecutive days, winners will be randomly selected to receive one of 50 prizes, including Kindle Fires, Mount Gay Rum and Banks Beer apparel, Barbadian cookbooks, iTunes and Amazon Gift Cards, courtesy of the Barbados Tourism Authority and partners. Grand prizes include five-day/four-night vacation packages for two to Barbados, inclusive of round-trip airfare on American Airlines from a U.S. gateway; restaurant and attraction vouchers; and luxurious accommodations provided by Ocean Two, South Beach Barbados, and Elegant Hotels’ Tamarind and Colony Club. The grand prize trip packages will be unlocked every time the page reaches an additional 10,000 likes, encouraging entrants to invite others to “like” Barbados in order to win a vacation.
The campaign, promoted through Facebook at Barbados Likes You, and on Twitter using the hashtag #barbadoslikesu, allows visitors to the Barbados Facebook page to “like” the page and submit their email addresses in order to enter.
“Our social media followers are extremely important to us, and we are so thrilled that our Facebook page has reached the 50,000 fan mark,” said Campbell Rudder, The Barbados Tourism Authority’s VP of Marketing for The Americas. “We have created the ‘Barbados Likes You’ Facebook promotion in an effort to show how much Barbados values our fans, and to encourage others to “like” our page for exciting daily updates. We eagerly anticipate awarding our fans with an array of prizes in the next 50 days, including trips to our beautiful sun-drenched island of Barbados.”
For more information about travel to Barbados, visit www.visitbarbados.org.
Rum Shop Tour
After visiting two world-class distilleries in Barbados we load into a cab and spend the afternoon researching the island’s legendary rum shop scene. Come along!
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Barbados is well-known for beautiful beaches, posh resorts, friendly people and great distilleries, but one attraction that every visitor should experience at least once is a tour of the island’s rum shops.
Most islands in the Caribbean have a special collection of local hangouts and beachside watering holes, but the scene in Barbados goes far beyond anything we’ve seen before. Rum shop culture runs deep and has been a vital part of life in Bajan communities for more than 300 years.
A rum shop is more than just a bar, it’s a social gathering place, a spot where neighborhood friends can join each other for a drink, a game of dominoes, tell jokes and talk politics. Liquor is not sold by the drink here, it’s sold by the bottle with mixers and a cup of ice. Don’t expect the barkeep to pour it for you either because the vibe is intentionally kept uncomplicated and laid back. Enjoy it.
With a little help from our new friend and cab driver, Hugh, we spent an afternoon touring some of the island’s most famous and well hidden rum shops. They are all unique, colorful and filled with interesting characters that you’d swear just walked out of a Graham Greene novel. By the end of the day we had bellies full of rum, smiles wide across our faces and whole new appreciation for Bajan rum culture. It’s safe to say that we will be back for more!! Here’s a look at some of the fun.
[youtube width=”700″ height=”420″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOGFAKKasV0&feature=g-upl&context=G238e938AUAAAAAAAAAA[/youtube]
St. Nicholas Abbey
While on Barbados, we pay a visit to St. Nicholas Abbey where our entire crew is won over with a dose of history, tradition and an unbeatable small batch rum.
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After our wonderful tour of Foursquare Distillery, it was time to head north along the gorgeous and unspoiled east coast of Barbados, past the many popular surf spots and rural towns, all the way to St. Nicholas Abbey. Perched in the soaring hills of St. Peter, this property was built in 1658 and has remained unchanged for more than 350 years. It is only one of three Jacobean mansions remaining in the Western Hemisphere and has been lovingly restored by owner/architect/distiller, Larry Warren.
Now, a property as beautiful as St. Nicholas Abbey is worth a visit just to check out the architecture and learn about its history, but it just so happens that this historic plantation has an added draw that seriously caught our attention – a small rum distillery!
The Abbey is situated in the middle of hundreds of acres of sugarcane, so after several years of making and selling artisan food products on site, they decided to put the cane to good use and get into the rum business.
Their first bottling hit the local and European markets several years ago and was produced exclusively for the plantation by Richard Seale. It was aged in oak casks at 65% abv for 8 years, batched and re-barreled at 40% abv and then aged for another 2 years at the Abbey. It’s a truly wonderful rum.
Last year they finished construction and assembly of their very own on-site micro-distillery complete with a beautiful Arnold Holstein still that came directly from Germany. Their signature rum is being produced with their own cane juice and aged, blended and bottled in the same traditional manner that has been used on the island for hundreds of years. We had a taste of some of the very first samples to come off the still and this rum is going to be a huge hit.
Like most things at St. Nicholas Abbey, packaging is done by hand and with extreme care. Rum is poured straight from the barrel into a one-of-a-kind bottle with an etched image of the Abbey proudly displayed on the side. Bottles are topped with a mahogany cork and each is numbered and dated. If you’re lucky enough to purchase one on site, they will happily etch a message of your choice onto it at no extra charge. Ours reads “Bottled especially for Rum Connection” and is among the most prized pieces in our collection.
Our tour of St. Nicholas Abbey was completely inspiring. The grounds are park-like, serene and maintained to perfection and the Abbey is a charming example of an architectural style and craftsmanship from era long gone. Most importantly, the distillery is beautifully designed, almost sculptural in quality, and is pumping out small batches of amazing rum. Everything here is done with the highest attention to detail and we applaud the Warren family for creating a wonderful island attraction as well as presenting a lovely artisan rum to the marketplace.
Next time you find yourself in beautiful Barbados, be sure to make your way to St. Nicholas Abbey for a look at history, tradition and a sip of genuinely wonderful Bajan rum.
Stay tuned for more coverage from Barbados. Next up, a look at the island’s legendary rum shop culture. Cheers!
In Good Spirits
“Like its Caribbean homeland, rum is the most easygoing of spirits.” The Vancouver Sun discovers island culture through cocktails and booze. Enjoy.
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The Mount Gay Story
No trip to Barbados would be complete without a taste of the island’s national drink: RUM. Here’s a look at one of their top brands.
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A Look @ Mount Gay
Alun Hill of TV Travel Channel.com gets a sneak peek at the legendary Mount Gay Rum distilling process.
Click here to take the tour.
48 Hours in Barbados
The Mount Gay Distillery Tour makes Reuters list of top things to do during a weekend holiday in Barbados.
Click here for the full to-do list.