Caroni Distillery

Caroni Distillery was established on the grounds of an old sugar factory on the Caroni Plains, not far from Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 1918. The distillery was lucky enough to have its own sugar processing plant on-site, providing it with a continual supply of molasses. Thanks to its labour-intensive production methods, Caroni employed over 9,000 people at its peak.

In 1936, sugar giants Tate & Lyle acquired Caroni, making the facility their Trinidad HQ while they established major operations on the island. At the time, Caroni rum was a staple in the British Navy’s rations, but even this was not enough to ensure long-term success for the distillery.

The local sugar industry was in crisis, and the Trinidad and Tobago government had started subsidising sugar growers to keep them from going under. In 1970, Tate & Lyle sold 51% of the company to the government, which by 1975 had complete ownership. The reduction of sugar supply hit the rum distilleries of Trinidad hard. Once home to over 50 distilleries, by the 90s there were only two survivors: Angostura and Caroni.

Having lost money on Caroni for 25 years, the decision was made to minimise the government’s share in the business. Despite protests, the plan was to sell 49% to Angostura. Things didn’t quite go to plan as a stalemate was reached when placing a value on the stock in Caroni’s warehouse. Angostura ended up getting the distillery and the majority of the 18,000 barrels, but by then it was too late. Trinidad’s sugar-growing industry had collapsed and there was nothing left to do but to close Caroni’s doors for good. The distillery was demolished, its buildings left abandoned.

And, outside of Trinidad at least, nobody really seemed to care.

But what happened to the barrels Angostura didn’t get?

Enter Luca Gargano, CEO of Velier, Italian fine wine and spirits importer and distributor. Gargano came across the remains of the distillery on a 2004 visit to Trinidad and was then shown the old boarded-up warehouse still full of thousands of casks of Caroni rum that Angostura had missed out on. Some of these casks dated back as far as 1974.

Knowing he’d hit the jackpot, Gargano soon signed a deal to buy the lot. He shipped some barrels back to Italy straight away, while leaving others behind for a bit more time maturing in Trinidad’s tropical climes.

Since then, Velier has been releasing Caroni in very small, limited batches. As always, when the quality is as high as the supply is low, demand is through the roof. Caroni has become the rum collector’s rum, with many of these rare releases valued well into the thousands of dollars. As such, the distillery has been likened to the legendary Port Ellen whisky distillery of Islay.

Caroni employed a wide range of stills over its relatively short lifespan, starting with a cast iron still in 1918. A wooden Coffey still was added to the mix in 1936, then in 1957 a single-column still was brought in from the Esperanza Estate and used to make high-ester rum. This still is said to be responsible for Caroni’s signature style. A German four-column still was installed in 1980 and in 1984 both the 1918 and 1936 stills were retired and replaced with a two-column still and a pot still.