The Caribbean, Trinidad. Distillery closed, site dismantled.

In 1975, under pressure from across the country, the government of Trinidad nationalized a number of companies, including Tate & Lyle, the English giant of sugar production and owner of Caroni Ltd since 1937. The very competitive economic context, however, led to the closure of the island's sugar refineries and the collapse of the molasses production required for the production of rum. In 2001, the government sold its shares in Rum Distillers Ltd (Caroni) to Angostura and closed the distillery in 2002. Caroni Ltd would be definitively liquidated on 31 July 2003. In October 2004, Luca Gargano, the CEO of the Italian spirit distributor Velier and a passionate rum enthusiast and photographer, visited Trinidad to carry out research for a future report. There he found the site abandoned and, within its cellars, a huge stock of barrels, some distilled in 1974. The story of Caroni began in 2005 and the distillery immediately became the subject of lore.

A Caroni 16 year old single cask (#105) distilled in 1997 and bottled in 2014. A.D. Rattray was founded in 1868 by Andres Dewar Rattray, who at the time was a wine, rum and olive oil importer. He also bought, stored and blended malt and grain whiskies. After his death in 1910 and difficulties in the 1920s, the business ended up in the hands of William Walker in 1938, whose daughter married Stanley P. Morrison the following year. Stanley P. Morrison’’s son Stanley Walker Morrison bought A.D. Rattray from his aunt in 1993, a year before Morrison Bowmore was bought by Beam Suntory. The brand was relaunched in 2002, releasing the Cask Collection in 2004. This is a limited edition of 125 bottles for Shinanoya, a Japanese food, wine and spirits importer.