Book launch: Saint Lucian Rum
On Monday evening, I had the pleasure of attending the launch of Saint Lucia: A History of Sugarcane & Rum, the long-awaited deep dive into the island’s rum heritage by none other than Dave Marsland (better known as @drinksenthusiast). The event was hosted at London’s iconic cocktail bar Trailer Happiness; a bar that I’d somehow never visited before, where I found myself drinking a delicious TØZ daiquiri. I think it’s pretty safe to say, this won’t be my last visit!
The book itself is a serious labour of love. Dave has spent the past five years interviewing and digging through archives, unearthing the forgotten stories of Saint Lucia’s sugar estates, distilleries, and the people behind them. It’s more than just a reference book; it’s a living, breathing tribute to the island’s complex and rich relationship with rum… offering an insight into every bottle of St Lucian rum ever released.
You can pick up a copy now for £17.95 (an absolute bargain), and if you’re at all into Caribbean rum (or history in general) it’s worth every penny.
Naturally, no rum book launch would be complete without a few generous pours. We had the privilege of sampling some truly exceptional Saint Lucian rums from Dave’s personal collection. There’s something magical about savouring rare, aged, and discontinued rums – each sip adding depth and resonance as Dave read excerpts from the book, punctuated with personal anecdotes from his research. These stories, once told in passing, now live on in the pages of his work.
Huge congrats to Dave on this monumental achievement. Self-funded, self-published and unaffiliated; this passion project is a testament to Dave’s patiencein uncovering forgotten stories after so much knowledge was lost in the fire of 2007.
I know I’ll be diving into the book properly this week, a glass of Saint Lucian rum in hand. If you’re even slightly curious about Saint Lucia’s rum roots, you’re going to want to pick up a copy of the book that proved so popular it sold out twice in 48 hours and has had to be reprinted (already)!
