Two major investments for Mount Gay with sugar mill and new bond | Loop Barbados – Loop News Barbados

Mount Gay Distillery is reaffirming its commitment to the island with massive investments into the construction of a new sugar mill and aging bond at its St Lucy plant.

During a recent tour of both facilities, Managing Director Raphaël Grisoni explained that the project represented an investment of over $40 million into the local rum industry.  

“We also wanted to put our money where our mouth is and show the deep commitment that Mount Gay has in terms of investment in Barbados and investment which is leading to innovation and added value,” Grisoni stated.

The managing director made this announcement as he addressed specially invited guests which included Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology Davidson Ishmael, Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins and Parliamentary Representative for St Lucy Peter Phillips, along with other industry stakeholders.

“Mount Gay, after decades and probably centuries, is back into the sugar industry and this is a big milestone for Mount Gay, but also for Barbados,” he stressed.

However, Grisoni went on to explain that as the rum experts re-entered the sugar industry, the newly established mill will focus primarily on the production of molasses and “high-value” products rather than the extraction of sugar from the sugar cane, as was the case with the island’s other factories.  

Work on the sugar mill has been ongoing for the past three years and the four tanks in the new mill would have a capacity to store 84 tonnes of molasses.

Grisoni explained that Mount Gay’s production of its own molasses was critical to the process.

“It means that at the end of the day we will have organic molasses coming from us with different containers of sugarcane and we will have a beautiful, organic sugar and both will be highly valued,” he added.

In relation to the construction of the distillery’s new bond and rum cellar, the facility will house approximately 20,000 barrels of rum in the bond and as many as 500 more barrels in the adjacent cellar.

“We are increasing our capacity to age rum again because we are focusing on the premium rum. “We want to continue to age in Barbados because it is part of who we are and to be called Barbados rum, we think that we need to have all the process done in Barbados,” Grisoni said.  

The 2,500 square metre bond will increase the distillery’s capacity from 50,000 barrels to approximately 75,000 barrels.

“It is a lot of cash being mobilised because we believe in the future of Barbados rum but we believe, of course, in the future of Mount Gay rum. All of that will create additional added value and meet the future demand,” Grisoni explained.

The construction of the new bond is projected to be completed by December later this year.

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