Once again, Bermuda’s own rum company will sponsor the Newport Bermuda Race, providing sailors with multiple opportunities to sample its products.
It’s a perfect match—the Newport Bermuda Race and the hand-crafted rums of Goslings Rums of Bermuda. That’s why Goslings is again the Official Rum Sponsor of the Race in 2018.
Goslings is not your typical corporate purveyor of distilled spirits. Founded in 1806, Goslings has been blending award-winning rums for 212 years including the distinctive Black Seal Rum. The family-owned company proudly describes it perseverance “For Seven Stubborn Generations” and with justification—the company is Bermuda’s largest exporter and oldest business house.
Goslings will provide the principal ingredients for the Goslings Rum Newport Shipyard Crew Party on June 13, two nights before the start of the race, and every night at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club when the boats begin to finish. This will include a regular 5pm Goslings Rum 101 History and Tasting session (pre-register at the Duty Desk). And don’t forget to join the fun from 6 to 10pm on June 21st at the Goslings Rum Swizzle Washing Machine Party. There we will all get to learn what Rum Swizzles have to do with washing machines!
Some secrets will remain in the family, however, including the recipe for Goslings Black Seal Rum, which is both a Platinum Award winner—the highest honor given in the spirits industry—and the foundation component of the company’s famous trademarked Dark ‘N Stormy cocktail, the National Drink of Bermuda. Originally, this smooth, dark rum was sold from the barrel, and customers would pick it up in their own bottles. It became known as the “Old Rum” until folks started arriving with empty champagne bottles and the corks were sealed with black sealing wax. That resulted in the Black Seal name, and in time a matching logo and label was developed with a playful image of a seal balancing a cask of rum on its nose.
The company still produces an Old Rum. They call it Goslings Family Reserve Old Rum, and it’s aged 16 to 20 years, in oak barrels and described as having “an extra luscious, nuanced complexity much like a rare scotch or cognac.” This Family Reserve Old Rum was judged the No. 1 aged rum in the world by the Caribbean Journal. Once upon a time you had to be a close friend of the family to sip this fine rum, but more recent Gosling generations chose to offer it for sale—one bottle at a time—dipped in wax, hand numbered, banded and delivered in a straw-filled wooden box.
Goslings recently launched a new rum called Gold Seal Rum with the delicious complexity of Black Seal but in a smooth, glowing amber blend. Gold Seal incorporates the finest distillates from both continuous and pot stills aged independently then blended using the generations-old Goslings family secret methods. This super smooth drinker can be enjoyed neat or it will elevate any rum cocktail.
Goslings also offers the popular Goslings Stormy Ginger Beer which has become the number #1 selling ginger beer in the Unites States. This delicious soft drink and mixer strikes the perfect balance between spicy and sweet. Goslings will sell 2,000,000 cases of their Stormy Ginger Beer this year.
Goslings and the Newport Bermuda Race are a good fit for many reasons, and vintage isn’t the least of them. Goslings was founded exactly 100 years before the first Bermuda Race was held in 1906, and thanks to all the stubborn generations of Goslings, the company’s products were good and ready for the race’s thirsty sailors in 1906 and have been ever since.
