Nicholas! And across the yard is the boiling house and syrup plant, which grinds sugar cane from December to June, and the distillery. The St. Nicholas labelled rum was originally created at Foursquare Heritage Park distillery – a molasses based rum – and it is a rum of distinction, highly praised by rum connoisseur Helena Olsen (see the website). But Larry’s vision has been to produce rum on site, using the plantation’s own freshly ground cane and the traditional pot still method, in the new (awesome looking) distillery installed in 2009. It starts with the cane juice, processed on site into syrup and distilled, rather than using molasses, the base for most rums. The syrup plant produces 20,000 litres of syrup each year. This in turn produces a distinctive rum, aged in bourbon oak casks in the bond at St. Nicholas Abbey. The rum is bottled in beautifully designed bottles etched with an image of the Great House and sealed with a mahogany cork made from ancient local mahogany trees. It’s a unique, totally sustainable Nicholas plantation package! Preliminary samples of the 5 year rum are earning rave reviews, and it will go on sale in January 2015. One more point about sustainability: every conceivable combustible item – paper, boxes, palm fronds and wood from the forest around – all go into the production of brickettes to fuel the syrup plant! But what is even more extraordinary is the coincidence of this new generation of sugar cane product… St. Nicholas Abbey 5 year rum … with a new generation of Warrens! Larry and Anna’s son Simon and his wife Camilla are the proud parents of twin boys, Arthur and Henry, just four months old. Life is full of extraordinary coincidences and wonderful connections and circles. And so the “new generation” five year old St. Nicholas Abbey Barbados Rum celebrates the new generation of Warrens, Arthur and Henry, and their names are inscribed around the neck of the bottle. It is a splendid celebration of love and of passion for the heritage of Barbados and particularly of St. Nicholas Abbey and a plantation whose boundaries have not changed in 350 years. And it’s a golden example – a splendid role model - for working with local history, culture and materials to produce a distinctive, high quality, marketable product in every way, to complement the amazing place that is St. Nicholas Abbey – a site considered by many to be of UNESCO World Heritage global value. Tel (246) 422-8725 www.stnicholasabbey.com | stnicholasabbeyrum.com facebook.com/stnicholasabbey
The state-of-the-art distillery
Made entirely from recycled material collected around the plantation, these brickettes fuel the syrup plant
St. Nicholas Abbey is one of the most fascinating historic treasures in the Western Hemisphere
Ins & Outs of Barbados 233