Looking for a rum produced by a family company that respects traditional methods? Then look no further. Foursquare is a family-owned distillery that has been masterfully managed by the Seale family since it was first founded in the 19th century. The distillery is located on the island of Barbados in the Caribbean Sea. The story goes that in 1883 Reginald Leon Seale decided to learn the art of rum blending. He then created his first company in 1926, lending his initials to the business name, R.L. Seale & Co. At the time, Barbados could not market its own rum, which was instead sold to bottlers and other independent brands. The distillery was handed from father to son, until Foursquare was built in 1996 on the site of the former sugar refinery and distillery of the same name. Rums are produced at the distillery from diluted molasses, and fermented with South African yeasts. Foursquare quickly established a strong reputation for its ex-bourbon cask maturations.

A Foursquare distilled in 2013 and bottled in 2015 for the Habitation Velier range, matured for two years in a cognac cask. It was distilled in a still designed by Green Engineering and Forsyths and, unusually for this distillery, has not been blended with a rum produced in a column still. Velier was founded in Genoa by Casimir Chaix in 1947. It was originally a small, family-run business specializing in the import and distribution of wine and spirits. Luca Gargano, a former representative for Saint James and serious rum collector and enthusiast, bought the business in 1986 and began bottling whisky first in 1992 and then rum in 1996. Rums selected by Velier are only ever aged in a tropical climate, which explains both their concentration and the high angels’’ share. They are generally bottled at cask strength or just below. The company’’s selections from Diamond’’s vaults as well as the Caroni bottlings and the bottlings from various distilleries in Jamaica, Barbados and other countries have played a key role in rum’’s history and are today some of the most sought-after in the category.