With rum, as with any aged spirit, your history is your future. The liquid you laid down ten years ago will, in the next few years, become the product you're selling. The liquid you lay down today may be the bottles that ensure your children can keep the business going – it's never about the now, but the amalgamation of all stages of live: past, present and future. Without one, or the other, rum is just distilled molasses.
It's a good thing, then, that Chairman's Reserve has almost a quarter of a century worth of history to inform its future. While the brand itself was launched in 1999, the rum distillery that would go on to turn into Chairman's Reserve, Dennery Distillery, was opened on St Lucia in 1931 by Denis Barnard. In 1972, Dennery Distillery merged with Geest Distillery to form St. Lucia Distillers. Twenty year later, Laurie Barnard – son of Denis and 'chairman' of St. Lucia Distillers – revolutionised the brand by launching Chairman's Reserve. That's a fair amount of history. Its future? The new branding, launched recently to bring the design of the Chairman's Reserve into the present day.
This is a subtle yet striking change to the brands bottle look. The new bottle design now proudly incorporates the island's famous Piton Mountains, a staple of the Chairman’s Reserve brand, embossed to the neck of each bottle as well as 'St. Lucia Distillers' wording embossed to the bottom, in a nod to the brand's history. The new bottle design also adds the brands transparency towards the Art of Blending programme.
As part of this program, each label now clearly highlights key information about components, pot still, type of barrels, ageing, blend etc. Chairman’s Reserve is aiming to educate consumers directly as interest and curiosity towards premium rum has been growing continuously over the last few years.
To celebrate the redesign, a selection of signature serves have been developed to highlight the characteristics of Chairman’s Reserve, including the signature Lucian Mai Tai cocktail. Follow along with the video below to make it for yourself.
Click here to shop now. For more information visit chairmansreserverum.com, Instagram or Facebook.
