Great Golf Magazine Sep/Oct 2017 September October 2017 | Page 82

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ed Rum. It’s a name that resonates with the British
public, thanks to the heroics of the beloved threetime Grand National champion. Now there’s a new
red rum to savour and it is fast coming up on the rails
in the drinks world.
Conceived and distilled in the UK and launched to the public
in March 2015, Morant Bay Signature Edition Spiced Red Rum
is the only red rum produced in the UK. In addition, it’s the only
craftsman-produced, non-traditional red rum in the world.
However, its origins are very much steeped in Jamaica, as are the
ingredients that give this drink its distinctive colour and taste.
The man behind Morant Bay has a background as colourful
as his creation. Peter Townsend is a teetotal former cop and onetime Motown musician whose family has been running a sugar
cane plantation in Jamaica for almost 125 years.
Born and raised in South London after his parents emigrated
to Britain in the early 1960s, Peter spent nine years with the
Metropolitan Police as a neighbourhood office and police
constable before quitting to follow his dream. He proceeded to
set up the Morant Bay Distillery Company with his wife, Nicki.

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GREAT GOLF MAGAZINE

FAMILY ROOTS Peter returned to his family roots for the venture.

Although based in Croydon, the company’s name is taken from a
town in the parish of Westmoreland, Jamaica. Here, Peter’s great
grandfather, James Townsend, bought a plot of land in 1893 as a
19-year-old and started growing sugar cane, initially selling the
produce locally but then supplying cane and molasses (black
treacle) to Tate & Lyle.
The plantation was passed on to Peter’s grandfather, Lopez, on
his death in 1940. Peter’s father, Brenton, took over running the
estate when he died in 1981, having returned to Jamaica with wife
Glenies. On their deaths, in 2014 and 2012 respectively, the sugar
estate was left to the fourth Townsend generation of Peter and his
three siblings – Colleen, Juliet and Dexter – and it is still run by
the family.
Besides sugar cane and blackstrap molasses, the estate also
produces fruits and botanicals. And it is those products, sourced
from the plantation, that are used in the production process of the
Morant Bay rum. The delicate infusion of Jamaican hibiscus flowers,
sorrel, cherries and spices are among the constituent elements that
give it the pinkish hue and characteristic sweet flavours.