Distillery

West Indies

The West Indies Rum Distillery is the giant hiding behind Barbados rum. Founded in 1893, it brought column distillation to the island and today distils an estimated 85 percent of all Barbados rum. Since 2017 it has been the Barbados home of Plantation Rum, yet most of what it makes reaches you under other names.

  • Historic Barbados heritage
  • Huge stylistic diversity
  • Strong value-for-money options
Loved by BjörnNi 🥃, Steve the Barman, Kelvin Peeters & 2,039 more

RumX market intelligence

Updated weekly

Community score
7.7/10
ratings
6,926
bottles catalogued
242
available to buy now
68

Award-Winning Rums from West Indies

View all RumX Awards →

Bumbu The Original

Bumbu The Original Bumbu The Original
Barbados · 15 years · 35%

Ultra-sweet banana dessert “rum”

7.0 /10 · 1,325 reviews
33 €
Add to cart

Best value from West Indies

Highest community ratings for the price, from live offers.

Available to buy now from West Indies

In stock across our shops right now, by community rating.

Bristol Rockley Still 1986

Bristol Rockley Still 1986 Bristol Rockley Still 1986
Barbados · 26 years · 46%

Mature Rockley with sherried red-fruit depth

8.8 /10 · 45 reviews
595 €
Add to cart

Community purchases

11,964 bottles from West Indies bought by the community.

+293 purchases in the last 3 months.

Added to collections, last 12 months.

as of

Browse all rums from West Indies

Explore our complete collection. Filter by price, rating, distillery, age, and more to find your perfect rum.

Sort by

Filters

Rating

Kill Devil 2000

Kill Devil 2000 Kill Devil 2000

Unusual, dirty-floral old Barbados

0.0 /10 · 0 reviews
225 €
Add to cart

No rums found matching your criteria

Try adjusting your search criteria or clearing some filters.

The RumX Guide to West Indies

Barbados' biggest distillery, founded in 1893

A German engineer named George Stade built the West India Rum Refinery on Brighton Beach, just north of Bridgetown, in 1893. He brought column distillation to Barbados, and within two years the refinery was making more rum than every other Barbados distillery combined. It was renamed the West Indies Rum Distillery in 1994. Today it dwarfs the island: around 15 million litres of pure alcohol a year, roughly ten times Mount Gay or Foursquare.

The names you actually drink

WIRD rarely sells under its own name. It is the engine behind Plantation and Stade's, it supplied Malibu for decades and once made Cockspur, and it blends and bottles under contract for brands around the world. If you have drunk Barbados rum without knowing the distillery, the odds are good it started here.

A still house spanning eight decades

WIRD runs one of the most varied still collections in rum. Column stills cover the 1940s to the 2020s, led by a 1995 Stone & Webster four-column still and a vacuum column added in 2021. Alongside them sit pot stills, the small Gregg's Farm and the newer Hot Pot, plus the rare Vulcan, the last working chamber still of its kind. An ancient pot still once known as the Rockley still also survives on site.

The Plantation era

In 2017 Alexandre Gabriel of Maison Ferrand and Plantation Rum bought WIRD. Since then the distillery has reawakened the Vulcan still, built the hand-hammered Hot Pot, started a wild-yeast nursery, run seawater-mash experiments and opened the Harper cane mill in 2022 to crush estate cane. More of the rum is now aged on the island rather than shipped out as bulk.

Most popular vs highest rated

RumX tracks more than 240 WIRD bottles with over 6,000 community ratings. The highest scores do not go to the distillery's own labels but to aged, independently bottled Rockley style rum, where the celebrated 1986 vintage sits above 9/10. It is a reminder that WIRD's column rum, given two or three decades in oak, becomes some of the most prized rum on the island.

How the crew scored it West Indies

RumX's 0–10 scale is strict , 7.7 lands squarely in the "Good" band. 66% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 6% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →

0–1
1–2
2–3
3–4
4–5
5–6
6–7
7–8
8–9
9–10

Flavour profile of West Indies

Most frequently mentioned flavors

Aroma

Vanilla Woody Coconut Caramel

Taste

Vanilla Woody Sweet Caramel

Frequently Asked Questions about West Indies

Today it produces Plantation and Stade’s, it long supplied Malibu and once made Cockspur, and it distils, blends and bottles under contract for many international brands.

WIRD is the distillery; Plantation is the brand. Plantation’s owner, Maison Ferrand, bought the distillery in 2017, so WIRD is now Plantation’s Barbados home.

A prized, aged column-distilled Barbados rum from WIRD, named after an old still. The famous 1986 vintage, bottled by independents, is the most collected. Note that rum labelled Rockley almost certainly never ran through that still, which was decommissioned long before.

By far the most. Research puts it at roughly 85 percent of all Barbados rum, around 15 million litres of pure alcohol a year, about ten times Mount Gay or Foursquare.

Maison Ferrand, the company behind Plantation Rum, led by Alexandre Gabriel. It has owned WIRD since 2017.

RumX offers the world’s largest selection of rum through our innovative shop-in-shop marketplace, similar to Amazon. For West Indies rums, we currently have 308 offers starting from €15.80 across 33 partner shops including Rum Piraten, Rum & Co, Urban Drinks, Whiskysite.nl, Bondston, Rum Hof. Our platform compares prices in real-time from specialized rum retailers worldwide, ensuring you always find the best deals.

The RumX database currently contains 242 different rums from West Indies. This includes various expressions, limited editions, and bottlings across different age statements and proof levels. Our community has contributed over 6926 reviews for West Indies rums, making it one of the most comprehensive resources for exploring this brand’s full range. New releases are added regularly as they become available.

According to the RumX community, West Indies Rum Artesanal Barbados Rum Rockley Style BBR 1986 34yr 53,7% is currently the highest-rated West Indies rum with an impressive rating of 9.3/10 based on 89 reviews. This expression has earned praise for its exceptional quality and represents the pinnacle of what West Indies has to offer. However, taste is subjective, and we encourage you to explore the full range to find your personal favorite.
Price alerts · in the RumX app

Unlock the Full RumX Experience

Love rums from West Indies? The journey doesn't stop here. Download the RumX app to explore an even more extensive selection of rums from West Indies and around the world. With features like collection management, personalized recommendations, tasting notes, and a bustling community of rum enthusiasts, our free app offers the ultimate rum experience, right in your pocket.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play
★ 4.8/5 on App Store & Play Store

Rating guide

RumX's 0–10 scale is strict. Here's what each band means.

9.0–10.0 Excellent Stash as many as you can afford. Tell no one.
8.0–8.9 Very good Bank a backup. Tell everyone you meet.
7.0–7.9 Good Buy one and recommend it to your friends.
6.0–6.9 Pleasant Solid, super glad I drank it.
5.0–5.9 Average Totally acceptable.
4.0–4.9 Drinkable Not vocally complaining.
3.0–3.9 Poor Wish I was drinking something else.
2.0–2.9 Very poor Nothing nice to say.
1.0–1.9 Unpleasant No, that's not for me.
0.1–0.9 Inedible Pour it out.