Admiral Rodney HMS Princessa. While St. Lucia is often associated with the Caribbean oasis of resort-life and white sand beaches, the island has a deep rum culture. This rum is part of the newly launched Admiral Rodney line from St. Lucia Distillers, which produces some of the most distinctive rums in the world!

Most rum is from the Caribbeans. And one of the most common ways rum is classified is via the whole English vs Spanish vs French distinction. This is an OK system, but is a dramatic simplification that can be very misleading.

Most of the islands were colonized in the age of exploration and different production traditions developed:

• French = sugarcane juice based agricole. Grassy, vegetal, developed once the sugar industry on the French islands declined and it was more economical to use fresh pressed cane juice for rum-making as opposed to molasses (byproduct of sugar refinement)
• Spanish = light bodied. Efficient column stills. Refreshingly light and crisp. Popularized in the 20th century to appeal to vacationing American tourists accustomed to vodka
• English = fuller bodied. Traditional pot stills. Funky, fruity, oily, rich, ashy, tar-y, spice-y, the description pool goes on…with the long history of rum for the Navy, the British colonies stayed loyal to producing heavy rums from pot stills, with limited uptake of the new invention of the column still.

So back to this bottle, and why that F/S/E classification doesn’t always work.

The Admiral Rodney line is fully composed of COLUMN STILL rums hailing from a former ENGLISH colony known for bold and intense flavors. The HMS Princessa is the youngest in the lineup – a blend of rums aged 5-9 years.

This is a beautiful rum that exudes the distinctive bold St. Lucia flavor profile (read more about that here), yet maintains a lightness that makes this an enjoyable nightly sipper that will also really shine in cocktails. It’s by no means vodka-like or light-flavored, yet I would not describe this as bold or unctuous. It won’t overwhelm your palate. Although delicious, I’ll say this is overshadowed by its big brothers in the line.