Just in time to properly toast World Rum Day on July 8, look to the Caribbean to celebrate with a company like Traveller’s Liquors in Belize. Rum’s home base region is laden with sugarcane. Whether you’re beachbound or roaming the rainforest — a duality Belize particularly shines in – rum in the Caribbean excels in totally different situations too, from aged to spiced and on the rocks to mini-umbrella-decorated frozen cocktails.
Rum And The Region
Photo by the Belize Tourism Board
In its simplest form, rum is a clear liquid distilled from sugar, whether molasses or straight sugarcane juice, that’s kept in barrels to impart important flavor notes.
That’s what makes rum so diverse, especially in a place like Belize, where sugarcane is often times organic and always locally sourced. And Traveller’s Liquors — having built its rep as the largest and most successful Belizean Rum Company — has a range to match, after serving for three generations as a family-owned and operated business. It’s why the company has won numerous awards, including The Fifty Best 2022 Silver Medal for Best Flavored Rum with Kuknat.
Bartenders in Belize have caught on, too. Rum-based cocktails using more than one style of rum usually do so to accentuate the depth of flavor that each rum brings to the drink.
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- Photo by the Belize Tourism Board
Take a light rum, like Cristal Lite Rum, and layer it with another that has a bit more depth and funk, like the unmistakable Kuknat Rum. You get the aromas and floral notes without the burn of an overproof rum, making for a balanced tipple.
Depending on your choice, Traveller’s Liquors rum is both smooth on the rocks and offers a rich solid base for cocktails because its sweetness isn’t overpowering. It’s here you can really bring the Caribbean flavors to life. So when in Belize, even when it’s not World Rum Day, give these three prime Traveller’s Liquors rum options a shot (or a mojito, or a Belizean panti rippa).
BACK TO BASICS: ONE BARREL
Price: $17 BZD (Per quart)
Belize’s first and favorite aged rum, One Barrel is award-winning in ‘best in class’ categories since 1990. Mixable and versatile, you can pick up this rum across the country, from any of Travellers Liquors’ distribution centers, and even in the U.S. and Canada.
How to order: Campechano (1 part One Barrel Rum, 1.5 parts club soda, 1.5 parts Coca-Cola, wedge of lime, served on ice)
A SPICED AND SATISFYING MID-POINT: Tiburon Rum
Price: $75 BZD
Premium crafted with a molasses base as a small batch, Tiburon is an 8-year blend matured in a blend of barrels. The golden rum is then re-casked for a second maturation process with aging in ex-bourbon barrels.
How to order: Tiburon Rum + Cranberry Juice (Tiburon’s subtle hints of vanilla compliment sweet and tangy cranberry)
SPLURGE TO SIP: Don Omario Vintage Rum
Price: $120 BZD
First launched to honor the legacy of founder Don Omario on the 10th anniversary of his passing, this vintage edition was hand-crafted and first aged by the Master Blender himself – Don Omario Perdomo. This rum has flavors of an earthy background, coffee, chocolate, and fleshy non-acidic fruits of prunes, dried apricots, and dates.
How to order: On the rocks. Simple and clean.
All images via Traveller’s Liquors Ltd.
