Travellers

Travellers started as a bar that Jaime Omario Perdomo Sr. opened in Belize City in 1953, named for the international guests who passed through, and it became a distillery because he could not get a steady supply of rum. Belize City was then the centre of the colony. He sold local rum and blended his own, and in the 1970s he partnered with Luis Alberto Espat to upgrade a pot-still operation to column distillation. His sons Romel and Myito joined the business, and in the 1990s the family rebuilt the distillery around a new three-column still.

Holmes Cay, Cadenhead's, S.B.S., Cane Island and the Tiburon brand are among the labels that bring Travellers rum to the world under their own names, because beyond its own labels Travellers is a bulk supplier. Bottlings such as the Spirit Gallery Belize 2007, the Rum Artesanal Belize 2007 and the Rumclub Private Selection Ed. 41 show what the aged distillate can do; the RumX community finds coconut, vanilla and dark chocolate in them, with caramel and roasted notes. The casks are ex-bourbon, and same-vintage barrels are occasionally consolidated to slow an angel's share of around 7 percent a year. The ageing stock is small by Caribbean standards, about 3,000 casks, which is part of why well-aged Belize rum is sought after: modest house range, prized distillate.

Travellers makes molasses rum, not agricole: it ferments molasses from Belize's two sugar mills, distils it on a column still near Belmopan into three marques, and ages, blends and bottles the rum in Belize City. The molasses is pasteurised to kill wild yeast before a 36 to 40 hour fermentation with dry baker's yeast in six closed tanks, reaching an 8.5 to 9 percent wash. The Katzen International still from 1990 yields three marques by collection plate: a very light spirit at 95 percent, an ageing rum near 90 percent, and a high-ester marque at 85 percent. The distilling happens in the foothills of the Belize Maya Mountains near the capital, Belmopan, and most new-make travels by tanker to Belize City, where it is reduced to 70 percent before going into cask.

Travellers' own labels include One Barrel, a long-standing staple of the range, the Belizean Blue Signature Blend and the Don Omario's Vintage, named after the founder. Belizean Blue and Don Omario's are the accessible official entries if you want to start with the house itself: the RumX community finds toffee, wood, nuts and spice in the Belizean Blue, and a smoky, sweet, woody side with vanilla in the Don Omario's. For the aged distillate at full strength, look to the independent bottlings above.