Cavalier rum

A distillery founded by shopkeepers

The West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers' Association (WIRSPA), the regional industry body, describes Antigua Distillery as founded in 1932 by a group of local entrepreneurs, many of them rum-shop owners of Portuguese descent, who wanted to control the distilling and branding of their own rum as sugar production declined.

The distillery's own history fills in the details. It says eight businessmen, most of them established shop owners, came together in 1929 to buy molasses in bulk and take greater control over rum production; they raised 2,500 pounds in capital and formally established Antigua Distillery Limited in 1932. The trade magazine The Buyer, quoting the company's sales and marketing vice-president, says the founders came from Madeira as indentured servants in the early 1900s and that eight of them pooled their resources; it dates the opening to 1932 and the incorporation to 1933. Idler magazine describes four families of Madeiran heritage setting up the company in 1932, while The Buyer adds that four of the founding families are still involved in running the business. The company adds that, a year later, in 1933, the distillery was built on leased land on Rat Island in St John's harbour, a small island that land reclamation later joined to the mainland.

From Caballero to Cavalier

In its early years, according to the company, the distillery sold unaged rum in casks to local merchants, who blended and bottled it under their own private labels, alongside an aged rum known as Caballero. Difford's Guide, summarising the same period, says the company sold unaged and aged rums under the brand name Caballero. The company dates its own label, Cavalier Muscovado Rum, to 1947 and says a lighter variation of that rum survives today as Cavalier Antigua Rum; Difford's Guide, a drinks reference, places the introduction of Cavalier in the 1950s, so accounts of the date differ.

WIRSPA describes Cavalier today as a lighter local blend that is still popular on the domestic market, while the distillery's English Harbour range, introduced in 1994 according to the company and named after the island's historic naval harbour, includes aged 5-year and 10-year rums. Difford's Guide likewise says Cavalier remains a successful brand on the island, and the travel magazine AFAR lists it among Antigua's national rums. The distillery's own Cavalier page lists a core range of White, Gold and Dark expressions.

How the distillery works

Both WIRSPA and the distillery single out its still. WIRSPA describes it as an all-copper hybrid of a UK-sourced John Dore still and a Savalle rectification column, one of the only ones of its kind in the Caribbean. The company says the original French Savalle still was refurbished in 1991 to become this hybrid John Dore and Savalle still, and that copper helps to refine and mellow the rum.

Because little sugar cane is grown on Antigua today, WIRSPA explains, the molasses is imported; Difford's Guide and Idler both give Guyana as the source. It is fermented in open vats and distilled to high strength before the rums are aged in ex-bourbon barrels.

WIRSPA says Antigua Distillery is not set up for regular public tours and that its production facilities are currently limited to its own teams and trade customers; its visitor note adds that anyone hoping to see the distillery should contact the company in advance.