BusinessGrenada.com BusinessGrenada2019-2020 Issue 8 | Page 116

In Pursuit of Excellence In Pursuit of Excellence O “ Westerhall Estate grew Sugar Cane back in the day when Agriculture was a culture. When Graham Williams grandfather bought the estate in the 1950’s, it handily came with its own distillery. Williams declares “I started working here for my father in 1986, when we were only selling two brands of our locally produced rum, Rum Sipper and Ye Old Mill.  Both rums were unaged spirits, bottled overproof. Sipper at 70%, and Old Mill at 60% alcohol by volume”   www.businessgrenada.com www.businessgrenada.com Back in 1991 due to a national scarcity of A LOT OF RUM INDEED Formalized into a company in 1966, present Managing Director Graham Williams was still a baby and seeking at that time, bottles of a different variety. 116 116 The young Williams became enamored with the fine art of blending aged rums and that continues to drive him and his company to this day and gave birth to a number of new products. in the aged category bottled at around 40% alcohol. In this category are four aged rums 10X0, Plantation, Dark & Superb Light and one white or clear rum 12 degrees which was introduced in 2014 at Umbrela Beach Bar, Grenada’s hippest beach bar in Grand Anse. We’re at a disadvantage not being a primary producer, but we also have an advantage because we’re only limited by our own imagination. “ Meet the Westerhall Family ne of my favorite T-shirts recently seen parading the streets, proudly states “The only thing I like more than Rum Is… More Rum!” In Grenada’s case, that translates to over 750,000 bottles produced by local manufacturers every year. sugar cane, the company took the decision to stop distilling and go into blending. Instead of making local rum stock, they began to import bulk spirit from within the Caribbean, primarily Trinidad and Barbados, this formula continues today. Currently, the company have cuvees, two are in the over-proof category Jack Iron and White Jack at 69% alcohol. The other five are www.businessgrenada.com Overproof is still the largest category locally with unaged rums bottled above 65% alcohol by volume representing over 50% of the local rum market. However, local aged rums have been gaining more acceptance and can now compete very well with the regional brands from Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana. Flavored rums are also now produced locally and like their aged counterparts they are also www.businessgrenada.com 117 117