St. Lucia Distillers, known to rum geeks as “SDL,” tends to present a unique case of blended stylistic influences. Throughout its history, the tiny island nation of Saint Lucia changed hands between the English and the French repeatedly, which left its mark on their rum-producing tradition. The signature distillate coming out of SDL is heavier, molasses-based pot and column-still rum, but there’s also a smaller operation at the same distillery producing estate sugar cane juice rum from the distillery’s own fields. This rum is never bottled by the company on its own—there’s not nearly enough of it to do that—but is instead used to give a rhum agricole-like funkiness and complexity to some of its blends. Most famously, it’s seen in SDL’s Chairman’s Reserve 1931, a premium product (roughly $100 MSRP) that blends every one of the company’s distillates into a truly delicious result.
The rest of the SDL lineup showcases how much the spirit of rum can vary when distilled and aged differently. The Admiral Rodney line, for instance, focuses entirely on the distillery’s Coffey column still distillate. The flagship Chairman’s Reserve lineup, on the other hand, blends distillate from the column still and several different pot stills—the John Dore pot still, and the hybrid Vendome pot still.
Newly introduced to that Chairman’s Reserve portfolio in the U.S. is a new brand called Legacy, a tribute to Laurie Barnard, the last founding family member to hold the “Chairman” position at St. Lucia Distillers, and creator of the brand in 1999. Barnard sadly passed away in 2012, but this new mid-shelf brand is a tribute to his particular blending prowess.
Chairman’s Reserve Legacy also gives SDL a brand that serves perhaps as a more genuine stepping stone between the flagship Chairman’s Reserve Aged Rum (MSRP around $30, a good value) and the Chairman’s Reserve 1931 (MSRP around $100) than the existing Chairman’s Reserve Forgotten Casks, which is priced around $50. The Forgotten Casks is essentially an extra-aged version of the flagship aged rum, a blend falling between 6-11 years. Legacy, on the other hand, is not so much about the age statement (5-8 years) as it is about the blend, which seems to contain a larger percentage of pot still rum, as well as some of the sugar cane juice-based rum grown on the distillery grounds. This makes the flavor profile of Chairman’s Reserve Legacy more like a younger version of the 1931 than The Forgotten Casks manages to be, and we can attest after tasting it that it nails this role. Even better is the accessible price point, as Chairman’s Reserve Legacy carries an MSRP of $43. Its makeup, meanwhile, is reportedly as follows:
Coffey Column Still: 5.5 years old, molasses based (72%)
John Dore pot still: 8 years old, molasses based (16%)
Vendome pot still: 8 years old, molasses based (4%)
John Dore pot still: 5 years old, sugar cane juice rum (8%)