Barbados Rum Journey: Small-Group Tour Exploring the Birthplace of Rum

Embark on a small-group tour in Barbados to explore the birthplace of rum. Visit St. Nicholas Abbey, enjoy a rum tasting, and learn about the history of rum at the Mount Gay visitor centre.

Duration: 6 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • St. Nicholas Abbey - St Nicholas Abbey is a Sugar Plantation built in the 17th century. The Plantation grows its own sugar cane, harvest it and produces award winning rum at its distillery. They also have a restored steam engine train ride that is part of your experience when you visit St Nicholas on this tour
What's Included
  • Entrance Fees
  • Local guide
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Bottled water
  • Rum tastings
  • Lunch
  • Transport by air-conditioned minivan
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

Barbados, recognized as the cradle of ‘rumbullion and kill devil’, better known as Rum, is where this beloved beverage was first created. In our excursion, we delve into the captivating tale of rum’s origins as we explore St. Nicholas Abbey, a 17th-century plantation house. This estate is renowned for producing award-winning rum, and they welcome visitors with a tasting sample. The itinerary includes a tour of the plantation house, its lush gardens, rum distillery and an enjoyable ride on the heritage railway on a refurbished steam engine.

Once we’ve fully explored the morning, we take a gastronomic detour for lunch, followed by a quick visit to the beautifully rustic coastal town of Bathsheba. The day concludes at the Mount Gay visitor center. Here, you’ll gain in-depth knowledge about the history of rum and partake in an entertaining tasting session. The friendly Mount Gay Rum Tour guides will navigate your senses through the distinct notes, smells, and finer points of the rums they create.

  • Minimum drinking age is 18 years
  • We require a minimum of 2 persons to run this tour if the minimum has not been met you will be contacted at least 36 hours before to cancel the tours and you will be given an alternate date or refunded
Location
St. Nicholas Abbey
Cherry Tree Hill
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.4
(34 Ratings)
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Remi_p
Jun 22, 2024
Fantastic Rum and Interesting Historical Learning Experience - My sister and I had a great time throughout the entire rum tour! At the St. Abbey rum tour, our guide Virginia was very friendly, funny, and informative. My curiosity was set ablaze when she talked about the history of the house and the sugar cane plantation. She showed us around the property and how the sugar cane was processed. Very interesting to witness! We also got to try sugar cane for the first time and it was tasty too!! We tried two of their rums, and it was impressive taste for both of them. Virginia also let us try one of their Sorrel liqueurs... it was soooo good, as well as St Abbey's rums. We didn't hesitate in buying our favorites there lol! At the Mount Gay Rum Tour part, it was another interesting experience learning about the enslaved people and how Sir John Gay Alleyne was apart of the abolition of slavery. Our tour guide (I wish I could a remember his name but he wore glasses and had a super cool Pokemon sleeve tattoo), and he was funny, clever, and enlightening! We tried four of their Mount Gay rums, and they were all really good -but be careful with their Silver line, that bad boy is a doozy-. Along the way to both of the tours, we were driven by a really cool tour driver/guide, and he told us all about the landmarks we passed, some of the regular everyday life in Barbados, how Bajans have many Centenarians, and we even got to see Rihanna's childhood home. My sister and I would highly recommend this rum tour experience, and hopefully you'd be guided with the fantastic people we got to have as well.
Review provided by Viator
Andrew_w
Jun 4, 2024
Winston the guide was superb - Winston the guide was superb as were the guides at st Nicholas abbey and mount gay.only thing I'd say is this goes to the mount gay visitor centre in Bridgetown NOT the actual mount gay distillery in the north of the island!! I either didn't notice or realise the difference when I booked it. Was still good though!
Review provided by Viator
X1206jplukem
May 31, 2024
History of rum and rum tasting - First off, Charles, our driver was amazing. Gave us lots of information as we drove around the island, answered all sorts of questions and was genuinely a nice person. The tour was excellent. It was great to get up close with the steam engine at St Nicolas, and see the sugar cane being crushed and turned into rum. Lunch was delicious and the Mount Gay rum visit was fun and informative.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mrskarinaj
Apr 25, 2024
Small Group Rum tour - From start to finish our guide Winston provided us with lots of interesting facts about the island history and geography. He answered our many questions with his excellent knowledge. He was very funny and kept us entertained on the journey to and from the distillery’s. A five star guide!! He took us to Bathsheba first with its most stunning views and beach. This gave us the opportunity to take photos and stretch our legs. The tour included a short trip on a steam train, ours coincidentally was named Winston. The guide on the train gave us the history of the steam engine in Barbados. We then had a tour of the distillery and of St Nicolas Abby, ending with rum tasting. Our tour guide Megan was very friendly and funny. After stopping for lunch (included) we went to Bridgetown to visit Mount Gay tasting tour. We had a complementary rum cocktail which we both enjoyed. The guide for the rum tour was hilarious and kept our interest. There were five Rums to taste. Don’t plan any driving if you taste them all!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
240lucm
Apr 19, 2024
Train and rum - Our bus driver and guide, Glyne, was a walking encyclopedia of facts about Barbados and was very entertaining. The steam train tour was fun and the old plantation house interesting. I love to see the old machinery used to process the sugar cane. We only had two rums to taste at St-Nicholas. There was more rum tasting at Mount Gay.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Margie_p
Mar 17, 2024
Loved this tour - Lisa the guide gave a lot of insight about living in Barbados. She is an excellent driver on the crazy roads.
Review provided by Viator
Kurt
Jul 4, 2023
Excellent tour, exceptional driver and guide. - Our guide and driver, Charles, was particularly informative and interesting. This was our first visit to Barbados, and because of him we feel like we understand the island and it’s history well.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Thomas_a
Jun 15, 2023
Phenomenal historical tour and run tasting!! - Simply outstanding! A historical rum tour on steroids. Two tours that are completely different wrapped into one. The Abbey was deep in hands-on history and wonderful view with a train ride. A single run tasting… small batch production only. Mt Gay was a tasting extravaganza. Both guides were phenomenal! Our driver (Winston) was a tour guide himself and included some extra stops too!!
Review provided by Viator
R4424ggfrankd
Mar 23, 2023
Trip well worth it. - My wife and I decided to take this excursion on our honeymoon. Our guide was Charles and he was awesome. He was very knowledgeable about the island and made the drives as comfortable as possible. The tours themselves were just as amazing. We learned alot about the island and alot about rum!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Northstar474947
Mar 11, 2023
Story of Rum Tour - Fantastic - Fantastic tour steeped in history and wonderful landscapes. Small group which resulted in lots of attention. Lunch and water included - good lunch. Prompt pickup and timely finish. Winston was a very informative and good guide - would recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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September 2024
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