Rum is experiencing a period of growth largely defined by an increase in worldwide sales, along with the rise of a Premium Rum Category.

While Premium Rum has existed for a long time, Caribbean Rum brands are placing more effort into marketing their high end offerings and less on promoting mainstream, and entry level products.

This focus on quality instead of quantity can be seen with brands like Bacardi that are experiencing decreasing sales (19.5 million cases in 2017 to 16.8m cases in 2018) while also introducing new high end products.

It can also be seen with new premium releases from other Caribbean rum companies like Saint Lucia Distillers, the House of Angostura, and the Foursquare Rum Distillery.

The releases from Foursquare (Foursquare Premise, Foursquare Dominus and more) gathered significant buzz since Master Blender and Distiller Richard Seale is well known in the rum community as a strong advocate for traditional and authentic Caribbean rum production methods.

Mount Gay Distilleries has also been releasing some interesting premium products in the past few years.

Mount Gay XO Cask Strength is bottled unfiltered and undiluted from the barrel, allowing the smooth and balanced XO Rum to have a bit more challenge and complexity since it comes at a much higher proof.

The Mount Gay Origin Series deconstructed the Mount Gay method of distilling rum with pot stills and column rums as well as their ageing methods and choices.

The more recent Mount Gay Master Blender Collection release was called Mount Gay XO the peat smoke expression and it involved “a blend of pot still and column still rums matured in American oak barrels and then further finished in Islay peated whisky casks.”

Since that time, Mount Gay Distilleries has appointed Trudiann Branker as their new master distiller. While she revealed that she’s working on a new edition of the high end expression Mount Gay 1703, it’s only appropriate that a Master Blender Collection bearing her collection is put on the market to commemorate the appointment.

The new release, Mount Gay Distilleries Master Blender Collection: POT STILL RUM is interesting since it is not a limited edition version of a current Mount Gay Product.

It also consists entirely of pot still rum as opposed to the pot and column blend that Barbados is famous for.

The image of the pot still on the rum’s front label bears similarities to Habitation Velier products. This range from independent bottler Velier focuses on cask strength rum sourced only from pot stills. In the past, Habitation Velier has released rum distilled at Mount Gay Distilleries under the name 2009 Last Ward.



The rear label simply states; Second edition of the Master Blender Collection, Mount Gay Pot Still Rum is a blend of hand-selected rums distilled in traditional copper pot still only and aged for 10 years in American whisky casks. It is best enjoyed neat or over a large ice cube.

Learn more about Mount Gay Rum, the world’s first commercial rum distillery and one of the oldest continuously operating distilleries in the Western Hemisphere. The Mount Gay Visitor Centre welcomes guests from around the world, inviting them to discover the mysteries and secrets behind Barbados’ finest and most celebrated spirit.