Belize

travellerstripcolumnTravellers Liquors, Belize’s only distillery, has been founded by their Master Blender Omario Perdomo in 1953. Their name derives from their history in serving travellers along the main route to Belize City. When the house made rum blend started to become insufficient and rum even had to be imported to satisfy local demand, Perdomo decided to start producing himself. Thus, he came to an agreement with Luis Espat, who built a distillery in Belopman to distill rum for Perdomo. Eventually, Perdomo acquired the distillery in 1989. Besides Rum, Travellers also produces a bunch of other products such as Brandy, Gin, Vodka and several liqueurs. In 1992, the company upgraded its facilities and stopped using acids to speed up the fermentation process. It took a while to get their rum shipped outside the country but eventually the first shipment of their brand One Barrel (a one year-old rum) arrived in the United States in 2005, when a single pallet of 75 cases was delivered to Mesa, Arizona. It is now available in over twenty states but, to the best of my knowledge, not in Europe.

Characteristic notes: Pine cone, muscovado/ caramel, resin, dark berries, sandalwood

Tasted bottlings distilled at Travellers Distillery: