Rum cruise is a refined yet fun affair

Gosling’s Rum, Fantasea and the Hamilton Princess have joined forces for a regular Tuesday evening rum cruise. The idea is to learn all about Gosling’s Rum, enjoy a few samples and cruise around the Great Sound followed by a BBQ at the Hamilton Princess. The Bermuda Sun’s Sarah Lagan was invited to try it out. 

As we hopped aboard the Fantasea/Rum Cruise last Tuesday evening, the beautiful sunshine that had been beaming over Bermuda all day long shied away behind the clouds. 

‘Typical’ I thought. 

My friend and I found our seats on the top deck regardless and hoped the rain would stay away.

I wasn’t sure what the cruise was about — all I really knew was that rum and food were involved. 

Despite the cool weather, after about ten minutes my body seemed to warm up thanks to the samples of Gosling’s Rum being regularly dispatched to us by the boat staff at Fantasea. 

Gosling’s brand director Andrew Holmes stood at the front of the top deck talking us through what we were drinking.

Gosling’s, Fantasea and the Hamilton Princess have teamed up to give islanders a taste of Bermuda’s favourite rum along with a potted history of the goods, all while sailing around the Great Sound. 

Andrew was a great host, it’s always good not to take yourself too seriously and he had the crowd chuckling and interacting the whole way.

This cruise was originally designed for the cruise ship passengers out in Dockyard but Gosling’s decided it also wanted to attract the hotel guests, as well as locals aboard the cruise. There seemed to be plenty of locals on board on the cruise and they were keen to let Andrew know everything they already knew about Gosling’s.

The talk covered everything from the origins of Gosling’s Rum back in 1806 right up to the newest products including the cans of Dark and Stormy.

One of my favourite samples was the Gosling’s Family Reserve Old Rum which, we learned, was judged “Best In The World” by the Caribbean Rum Journal. 

It was pretty interesting learning about the history. The story began in 1806 when James Gosling set out from England aboard the Mercury with $10k of merchandise bound for America. 

The ship became becalmed and the closest place to head was Bermuda. The enterprising James decided to open a shop on the King’s Parade in St George’s and sell off the goods. Then, in 1824, James’ brother Andrew opened another shop on Front Street and the Gosling’s family have kept the store for 127 years. 

As well as the history of Gosling’s we also learned about the process of making it. It is made from molasses — a by-product of processing sugar. Yeast ferments the thinned mollasses which is converted to ethl alcohol. The recipe for Gosling’s Black Seal dates back some 200 years and it is aged in once-used, charred American oak bourbon casks. 

All this information enhanced the experience of the tastings. 

We tried all the products from Black and Gold Seal to rum swizzle and dark and stormy. We were even given samples of the Bermuda Rum cake — original, swizzle and chocolate flavour. I had no idea they made chocolate rum cake and for me it was the stand out best of all three. 

To top it off the sun tried it’s best to peek back through the clouds for part of the cruise. 

The cruise is fun, especially for those interested in rum making. 

It’s definitely not a booze cruise in the sense that most would understand. It is much more of a refined and educational experience. This would be a perfect cruise for someone who enjoys going to whiskey distilleries or has a passion for blends. 

An hour and a half was a good amount of time to be on the water and build up an appetite for the finalé. By the time the cruise finished the sun had given up trying so we headed inside for a spectacular barbeque. This is no burger and hotdog type barbeque — there were marinaded cuts of meats, an array of flavoursome salads, baked potatoes, gravies and delicious desserts. A perfect end.

The Gosling’s Rum Cruise leaves from the Hamilton Princess dock by the Flagpole Terrace at 6pm every Tuesday evening (weather depending) and returns the the hotel at 7:30pm.
The combined cruise and BBQ is priced at $85. The cruise without the food is $50 and the food without the cruise is $46.