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 distilled in 1996 and bottled at cask strength in 2021 by Velier for the Employees range dedicated to the distillery’’s staff. This edition is the latest in the range and pays tribute to Fredi Marcarini (photographer), Rudy Moore (Caroni’’s liquidator) and 15 former employees reunited in 2017. The blend was designed by Luca Gargano and 26 Caroni enthusiasts split into eight “tasting gangs”. Four casks aged entirely in Trinidad and Tobago were selected and blended to produce 754 bottles. 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. His Caroni bottlings have become truly legendary. In 2005, he bought several casks after visiting Trinidad with Fredi Marcarini to take photos the year before. 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.