Caroni Distillery

For rum lovers, Caroni’s name is whispered with the same reverential hushed tones as Ladyburn or Imperial are among whisky connoisseurs. A ghost distillery, closed and demolished – and not (as yet) revived, to complicate its cult status.

It began producing rum in 1918. Or perhaps 1923. There is even a 1914 newspaper ad for a bar serving 15-year-old Caroni Rum, so maybe it was open in the 19th century! The origin story is unclear, which only adds to Caroni’s legend.

Whatever the exact date, this was, it is safe to say during Trinidad’s heyday as a sugar-producing island. Unlike on its neighbour, Tobago, cane was only planted in great amounts from the mid-1800s, and the rum business only grew in the early 20th century.  But, at one point, there were 50 distilleries on Trinidad. There was enough sugar being produced for Tate & Lyle to take a controlling interest in Caroni in 1936.

This was not Caroni’s only connection with Great Britain, even after Trinidad & Tobago gained independence in 1962. Most rum distilleries provided rum to sell to independent blenders and bottlers (the Elixirs of their day). Caroni’s biggest client was the Royal Navy. Its rum – a blend of its heavy pot-still style and lighter column-still style – at one time made up around 30% of the Navy blend.

Trini natives were not big fans of the high-ester, funky Caroni style – even when blended with the more approachable column-still liquid. But it was what the Navy wanted and, it turned out, many years later, it has fans around the world.

In 1970, Tate & Lyle sold a major share in Caroni back to the Trinidadian government, and full nationalization followed in 1975. Unfortunately, with the sugar industry dwindling, on top of Black Tot Day in 1970; the ending of the Royal Navy’s daily rum ration - this was simply the start of a managed decline, with the inevitable end coming in 2002.

The death of Caroni was not exactly big international news. So, when legendary Italian rum importer Luca Gargano toured Trinidad in 2004 and tried to visit the distillery, he was shocked to find it abandoned and crumbling. There was, however, a caretaker on site and she answered his question, “Where did all the rum barrels go?”, by showing him into a warehouse that contained casks going back to the 1980s, apparently forgotten.

He snapped up as many as he could and, through his company Velier (now Le Maison Velier), began releasing them slowly... These bottlings created the cult that is Caroni now. A fully paid-up member is Elixir’s rum expert, Mitch Wilson. “Caroni has a unique character but, at the same time, varies a lot. It can have these very beautiful fruit flavours: peaches, apricots, stone fruit notes you find in other Trinidad rum. But it also leans towards this heavy diesel side, which is completely in a world of its own. It’s the variety that makes it worth exploring.”

There is an innate irony to the fact that Caroni had to close to become a success. Mitch points out: “The government was looking for a buyer for the distillery but didn’t find one. So they just closed it down and sold most of the stock to be hidden away in blending. Now, some of that stock is reemerging because it so much more highly valued under its own name.”

There is still reason to visit the Caroni area of Trinidad, says Elixir’s rum expert Mitch Wilson: “You can take a boat trip through Caroni Swamp, which is more like a beautiful river that ends at a big island, where thousands of scarlet ibises arrive to roost there every single night, turning the whole area pink. It’s spectacular.”

As is Caroni rum, if looked after well. It is undoubtedly Luca Gargano’s discovery and bottling skill that created the cult of Caroni but other independent bottlers have acquired some of the remaining Caroni stock too – including Elixir Trails. We have bottled four different casks individually in order to let our customers start exploring the variety for themselves. But, be careful – it’s hard to escape the Caroni rabbit hole!

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