Tour of the Travelers Rum Factory
During the 1950's in Belize, sugar was king and everyone with a plantation was rolling in money and making his own rum – or so it seemed.
In 1953, Jaime Omario Perdomo Sr., a man from very humble beginnings, began a venture by opening a bar in Belize City which he called TRAVELLERS. It was a logical name since most of his clientele were traveling either into or out of the city.
Travellers initially sold imported liquors and beers as well as locally made rums. In those days it was the practice of local bars to make their own rum blends for exclusive sale and Don Omario did not hesitate to follow that tradition. He started to create unique blends for his bar by combining various flavors and essences.
As Travellers' rums grew in popularity, Don Omario searched for a way to provide consistency to his blends. During this time the recipe for the award winning ONE BARREL aged rum was developed.
Growing competition in the rum manufacturing business made it more difficult to obtain spirits of consistently good quality. Eventually he entered into a partnership agreement with Luis Alberto Espat who agreed to build the distillery in Belmopan.
During the 70's, Don Omario's sons, Romel and Mayito, came of age and joined him in the family business. Their enthusiasm and youthful energy translated into a tremendous growth spurt for the company.
Our tour guide Paul (that’s Paul from Belizeprivateadventures.com website through the Belize City Chamber of Commerce Site - yes I have his contact) arranged for an early tour so we could go Cave Tubing later in the afternoon (apparently the most popular tourist attraction in Belize - who knew? ) Our Traveler’s Rum Factory Tour started at 10 am with unlimited samples at the end. Right.)
We received a brief history of the rum industry in Belize, a tour of the museum with the vintage stills and cane extraction equipment (often powered by horses), the local family history associated with the founders of the factory and the tour was conducted and hosted by the Great Grandson of the original supplier of cane juice/molasses to the company and for which the supply contract between the two family still exists to this day. All good in the Belizian Hood. As our snorkeling guide from the reef tour would say (again more on this later) - ‘Nice and Easy - no rush.” Yea, the rum factory tour was just that.
Of course, we tried the samples. The 1-Barrel (aged 1 year - all their aged rum is aged in bourbon casks from Kentucky (yea baby) has won many gold and best in class awards since 1990 It is exported out to the US, Canada, and Europe and Travelers is the only Belizian rum to meet the standards for export. The Tiburon (“Shark” in Spanish) is an 8-year blended rum that quickly became a personal favorite before even going on the tour and mixes exceptionally well with Guava, Mango, Peach, and Pineapple nectars (heck any nectar) and was already known to us prior to the tour and we’d only been in the country 2 days - yea that good). They also poured a Kuknat Rum (Belizian Coconut) which was insanely good, and Bailey’s style Rum called Craboo Cream (Craboo is the fruit/nut they use to make the flavor - the taste is decidedly like Baileys with the Irish cream flavor only richer and deliciosoo!! (awarded 2000 Rumfest, Spice and Flavored gold medal (no doubt!).
Shout out to Paul our tour guide for taking such good care of us and setting up the Rum Factory Tour and guiding the Cave Tubing run which was un-friggin-believable). More on that soon! Travelers 1-Barrel and Tiburon are available at Total Wine in the states and probably some other delicious offerings.