Bahamian Rum

The Bahamas has a long association with liquor that owes as much to prohibition as to production: during the 1920s the islands were the transshipment point for alcohol running into Florida, and fortunes were made on Bay Street doing it. Bacardi ran a large operation in Nassau from the 1960s until the 1990s. More recently, small distilleries have started producing on New Providence, one of them on the site of an eighteenth-century estate, making rum from Caribbean molasses and ageing it in the tropical heat. The Goombay Smash, invented at a bar on Green Turtle Cay in the 1960s, is the drink most visitors meet first.

What you actually see

• The Nassau distillery - production and ageing on an eighteenth-century estate site.
• The rum-running history - the 1920s trade into Florida.
• Goombay Smash - invented on Green Turtle Cay, now served nationwide.
• Tropical ageing - fast maturation in Bahamian heat.

When to go

Year-round. Distillery tours run on weekdays and generally need booking. Rum is cheapest in supermarkets rather than duty free, where the mark-up on local brands is often higher than in town.

Honest expectations

The Bahamas has never been a major rum-producing country and most of what is bottled here is distilled elsewhere in the region and blended locally, which the labels do not always make clear. The distillery tours are short and brand-focused. Goombay Smash recipes vary wildly and the original is a closely guarded family formula.

Nearby

Nassau holds the distillery; Green Turtle Cay in Abaco is where the Goombay Smash began.