Development since 1893
The West India Rum Refinery was built by the distiller George Stade in 1893. It was the island's first column still, and was erected on the beach, away from sugar cane plantations, a unique configuration at the time. Its initial purpose was to distill sugar cane for local rum producers. It became a public company in 1901. [1]
The West India Rum Refinery produced the rum Cockspur since its launch in the early 20th century. In 1939 (or 1965 [2] ), Goddard Enterprises Limited (GEL, also owner of Cockspur) bought a participation in West India Rum Refinery Limited, and turned it into a controlling stake (88% [2] ) in 1989. [3]
It was renamed West Indies Rum Distillery in 1994, and Malibu became its largest customer during the 1990s. [1] In 2006, the WIRD acquired 33,3% of the National Rums of Jamaica (Clarendon, Long Pond and Innswood distilleries), an important Jamaican rum producer. [4]
Maison Ferrand since 2017
Maison Ferrand had been a client of the West Indies Rum Distillery since the early 2000s, sourcing rum for its Planteray brand (formerly Plantation), which is then double-aged a second time around in France. In 2017, Maison Ferrand acquired the West Indies Rum Distillery and its one-third ownership of National Rums of Jamaica (including Clarendon and Long Pond distilleries). [3] [5]
The new owner reshuffled distribution to focus on exclusive clients. [6] In 2021, the distillery launched its own brand of rum, Stade's Rum. [7] The WIRD opened the Harper Sugarcane Mill dedicated to sugarcane and rum research in 2022, [8] and worked with the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) to launch a coconut-flavored rum using only Barbados-grown coconuts. [9]
