Rum Hunting - Day Five - Duty Free Clue

I was on my way through the Barbados Airport duty free store this morning when I found the bottle I had been searching for on the island: Mount Gilboa Pot Still Rum. Mount Gay distillery was once known as the distillery at Mount Gilboa plantation and we knew there was still an eponymous rum in production somewhere. In my hand was now the evidence. At the behest of plantation owner John Sober, Mount Gilboa was renamed Mount Gay in 1801 after the death of Sir John Gay Alleyne, who had been an effective and inspirational leader of the company for more than two decades. There was already a Mount Alleyne in Barbados, so they went with his middle name instead as a tribute. 

Flash forward to the 20th century. In the early 1900s the distillery fell into the hands of the Ward family who increased production and recognition of the brand's reputation. It wasn't until 1989 that Remy Cointreau became the majority shareholder. Audrey Ward was perhaps the most famous of the master blender/distillers at Mount Gay and, for some time, one would find his signature on the label of each bottle. Today no longer. Where you will find the Ward family name, however, is on the Mount Gilboa label. According to the packaging with the bottle, Frank Ward, who is descended from Audrey Ward, is currently the managing director of Mount Gay Refinery Ltd, where Mount Gilboa is made today. Here's a photo of the distillery below.

Wait a minute, David! This is the exact same photo you showed us two days ago! You said that was the distillery at Mount Gay! The one they wouldn't let you into! 

That's correct. However, I found a blog post from a webpage called the Rum Collective that shows the same building, but with photos of the inside as well taken from an educational tour. The tour itself wasn't organized by Mount Gay, however. It was given to this person by the man and family behind Mount Gilboa rum: Mr. Frank Ward, whose family ran the Mount Gay brand for ninety years. If Frank Ward is the head of Mount Gay distillery, the home of Mount Gilboa rum and apparently of Mount Gay rum as well, does this mean that Remy Cointreau doesn't actually own Mount Gay distillery, but rather just the rights to the Mount Gay brand? This isn't an uncommon practice in the booze business. Berry Bros. & Rudd, for example, recently purchased the rights to Glenrothes as a brand, but have no control over the distillery itself.

When we were on the boat last night one of the crewmen showed me a sugar refinery off the coast and said the industry is dying a slow death on the island. I found a link to an article from ten years ago that talks about the limited access to molasses on Barbados and how the Wards were forced to look elsewhere as a result. This article from Ebony Magazine in 1975 claims that Audrey Ward founded the Mount Gay Company in 1908 (the company not the distillery) and that every bottle of Mount Gay rum bears his name: A. F. Ward. Yet, today it does not. The modern day Mount Gay is a new brand with a new face that stresses the foundation of the distillery in 1703, rather than the hard work and history of the Ward family. They seem to avoid all discussion of the Wards, but I'm not sure as to why.

So here's the deal. Frank Ward's Linkedin page still lists him as the managing director of Mount Gay Refinery, but there is no mention of him at Remy's Mount Gay. As I wrote a few days back, Allen Smith is the master blender, (italicized in that post, as well), but we never met anyone with any knowledge of distillation. Conclusion? Remy Cointreau owns Mount Gay, but likely not Mount Gay Distillery, which is still owned and operated by the Wards, who founded the company in 1909 and sold the brand in 1989. They're likely contracting rum from the distillery, but I couldn't say for sure. 

Now I'm excited to try this Mount Gilboa! All pot still, no column still! It looks like part of the mystery is solved.

-David Driscoll