THE LEGENDARY BAY RUM: OVER 200 YEARS OF FASCINATING HISTORY

Author : ANGELO BISSESSARSINGH.
It is used as a bath water additive, aftershave, beverage (NOT ADVISABLE) and is the cheapest way to “sap yuh head” when throbbing migraines set in. The comforting smell of bay rum is a scent signature engrained in the psyche of every Trinbagonian. It conjures up many memories….of granny or mammy rubbing yuh head when yuh sick, the village drunk when he cyah get puncheon, countryside funeral wakes and such.
The history of Bay Rum can be traced back as far as the 16th Century when Sailors in discovered that the West Indies bay leaf made a great perfume to freshen up and mask the stink they acquired while being stuck on a ship for months. To apply the scent to themselves, the sailors would rub the dry leaves on their body, thus leaving the fragrant oil on their skin. Tired of having to rub bay leaves on himself like a crazy seafarer, some sailor got the idea that rum would make a great liquid to steep the bay leaves in to extract their essential oils and make an easy-to-apply cologne. And with that, bay rum was born("sailors would rub" 2010).
Islanders took this basic recipe and began adding their own olfactory flourishes by mixing in cloves, citrus rind, and cinnamon. “The first bay rum sold in Trinidad was originally produced on the island of St Thomas. Local manufacture began in the early 1900s. It was initially prepared by collecting the distillate from boiling bay leaves in white rum, but is now made from a combination of bay oil, citrus and spice oils, alcohol and water. In 1838 - Danish chemist Albert Heinrich Riise became interested in this local remedy and discovered that by mixing St John bay leaf oils with fine Virgin Island rums, it created an amazing fragrance.”In Trinidad, it was sold by practically every shop and dispensary as one of the essentials in a home medicine melange. This was especially important in a time when proper medical attention was unlikely to be had outside of the large towns and even if available, was beyond the reach of the working class population. Its use as an antiseptic was also well established.
I have seen advertising for locally produced bay rum dating as far back as 1909 but the properly branded TRINIDAD BAY RUM did not seem to exist before 1918.
It was produced and bottled at Frederick Estate in Caroni which at the time was managed by the formidable Captain Watson and boasted one of the most up to date sugar refineries in the West Indies, which was designed and assembled under the instruction of engineer H.A Green (Green St. in Tunapuna is so named in his memory) . In 1887, two years after the complex was erected, it was described by Collens thus:
“The buildings at Frederick were designed and erected, and the machinery put together, by Mr. H. A. Green, one of the most experienced engineers in the colony. They are 240 feet in length, and 160 feet in breadth, the chimney being 150 feet high. The whole structure is very far from being the unsightly mass a factory so often seems to be, the glass window and green jalousies alternating with pleasing effect.”
The usine contained a distillery which manufactured several grades of alcohol , including industrial distillate as well as very fine rums. Contracting global sugar markets and other economic considerations forced Frederick Estate to rationalize its operations as part of the larger enterprise , Caroni Ltd. The much-vaunted factory was dismantled and re-established at Brechin Castle where its shell still stands . This was in the 1930s. The distillery remained at Caroni however, until its closure and sale in the early 2000s.
Compelled to find ways of increasing its profitability, bay rum was introduced as part of the product line and soon became very popular, with its instantly recognizable label that was initially pasted onto black 12 oz. bottles. Sold at six and later ten cents per unit, it was a commercial success for Caroni. It was also available wholesale in stoneware demijohns from the factory. One of the first commission agents to market the product aggressively was a commission merchant of Chinese-Trinidadian extraction named Louis Jay Williams (L.J Williams). He was also ironically, the local distributor for Limacol which was the main rival of the bay rum, although the former was considerably more expensive, being imported from British Guiana where it was manufactured by Bookers (known also for their iconic and long-running Booker’s Drug Store Almanac).
By the 1930s, the Frederick Estate factory was relocated to Caroni Ltd’s Brechin Castle compound and sales of Trinidad Bay Rum proved to be a commercial success.Trinidad Bay rum has passed through several owners since it was first manufactured on Frederick Estate in Caroni. Ironically enough the current manufacturer of the product (now called Cari Bay Bay Rum) is located at Frederick Industrial Estate in Caroni, just a mere stone’s throw away from the distillery where it was originally formulated.
There are even claims that a Portuguese Immigrant Claudio Carvalho did his own distillation at a Bay Rum Factory he established in San Fernando and was the main distributor of Bay Rum in San Fernando and environs in early 1900s. (Source: Virtual Museum of Trinidad and Tobago, Jan 16, 2025)