Captain Bligh

[Hank Koestner]

A friend returned from St. Vincent with a bottle of Captain Bligh amber rum for me.
The label is in French and English. The rum is 40 ABV. I took a quick taste and found it a bit nutty with subdued vanilla, and a somewhat dry finish, which I enjoy. I need to spend a little time with it to taste it fully.
The label also has SUNSET on it. Does anyone know if this is the same rum as St. Vincent Sunset Extra Gold, or is this a different rum? I thought that they were different based on what I have read. There is nothing on the bottle that speaks of aging. Cheers!

[Edward Hamilton]

That is the same rum as Sunset Extra Gold Rum. It is a blend of rums aged at least about three years. Ironically, there is only a very small market for aged rum in St Vincent and the Grenadines so that rum is hardly known.

The name was changed because the old label wasn't very marketable in the US and there was concern over the name Captain Bligh being less than desirable as a moniker for an aged rum in the US. But again, there is some irony, because it is named after Captain Bligh of the mutiny fame, the same Captain Bligh did continue his original mission and delivered breadfruit trees from the South Pacific to St Vincent to broaden the food base for the slaves who worked the cane fields in the Caribbean. In Kingstown, St Vincent, there is a breadfruit tree which is said to be of the original stock brought by Bligh.

Captain Bligh went on to be governor of Australia where rum became the unoffical currency during hte early days of that country's colonial history.