After 300 years, rum distilling returns to a historic St. Kitts property.
As seen in Wine Enthusiast Magazine – October 2024
BY NATALIE PREDDIE
When Jack Widdowson was growing up in the 1990s, playing hide and seek with his sister on the grounds of Wingfield Estate on the Caribbean Island of St. Kitts, rum had not been produced on the land in centuries. His father had purchased this overgrown estate 50 years earlier and gradually the family unearthed multiple structures dating back to the 1600s. When Jack was 17, they discovered the ruins of a rum distillery on the property—and while it filled its first barrels in 1681, it hadn’t produced a drop of rum in centuries. Most islanders weren’t even aware of its existence.
Widdowson worked school holidays and summers to remove the rainforest from the decrepit building by hand, scraping moss from bricks, cleaning ancient iron pots and in the process became obsessed with its history and how it tied to his island home. The more he discovered, the more determined he became to bring this age-old distillery back to life.
It took years to uncover the history of the estate and its inhabitants, the sugar trade connections, who the former distillers were and, finally, its production methods. This research took him to Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he found historical documents detailing Wingfield Estate’s very specific, centuries-old process of rum distillation: the distillers’ use of a pot still, aging methods, finishing in Madeira wine casks and obscure recipes that called for the addition of both animal parts and sea water during fermentation. (Some of those recipes he left to the past.) When he finally had all these pieces, it was time for the company that had been in Widdowson’s head nearly two decades to become a reality.
This wholly Kittitian spirit marries island heritage with modern rum production.
Old Road Rum is a culmination of that passion and focus and a celebration of all things St. Kitts. This wholly Kittitian spirit marries island heritage with modern rum production. And to make the dream a reality, the company launched the Founders Club in 2022, an opportunity for 500 investors to own one of the very first bottles produced and have their names etched on the distillery cornerstone, becoming a part of its rich history. Founders also got access to exclusive small-batch rums like the bottles that would be finished in Madeira casks as an ode to original distillers.
The distillery itself is now open for guests to explore, an energetic hive of activity with tours and tastings, bottling and blending, all set on a luscious backdrop of rainforest and Caribbean sunshine.
Long-term, Widdowson is committed to returning sugarcane farming to prominence on the island, using the harvest specifically for rum.
“There are other untold stories here,” he says. “They’re just waiting to be told.”