Rum & Distilleries
Copper pot still at a rum distillery. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Rum is the Caribbean's spirit in both senses: born on the sugar plantations, now the region's great craft. Barbados claims the oldest distillery (Mount Gay, 1703); Jamaica the funkiest (high-ester pot stills); Puerto Rico the biggest (Bacardí's Cataño plant); Cuba the most iconic (Havana Club).
Distillery tours run on all six islands. The tasting room is the classroom: white vs gold vs añejo, and what the angel's share means in the tropics.
