Jamaica Rum Industry Family Tree

When I worked in the software industry designing and implementing complex systems, thinking in terms of hierarchies was deeply ingrained in me. So, when I changed careers to focus on writing about spirits, and particularly rum, my hierarchical habit came along for the ride.

While newcomers to the rum world naturally focus on brands and bottles they enjoy, gaining a deeper understanding of the rum universe necessitates knowing who makes what and the relationships between brands, distilleries, and their corporate owners. This is where hierarchical understanding becomes invaluable. And while my brain is full of hierarchical structures for many corners of the rum world, I’ve yet to create a physical manifestation of any of them. Until now.

There are many ways to slice and dice the rum world, and I have many ideas about representing various slices. For my first excursion, I’ve chosen Jamaica’s rum industry, a topic near and dear to rum enthusiasts and a happy middle ground between very simple and extraordinarily complex.

Jamaica Rum Industry Family Tree. Click to see it full size. This graphic is copyrighted by me and is not to be reproduced without written email permission.

From the graphic above (click to see it full size) it’s easy to see that Jamaica’s rum industry is essentially:

• Two large producers with multiple distilleries and (mostly) non-Jamaican corporate ownership

• Two smaller, locally owned producers, each with one distillery.

Since brands are the most familiar entity to rum enthusiasts, I’ve put the brands at the top of each producer “stack.” Starting from a brand, you can burrow down to the distilleries that make the brands, the Jamaican company that owns the distilleries and brand, and at the bottom, the top-most corporate owner.

Notes and Disclaimers

Jamaica’s rum industry is far more complex than I can reasonably represent in a single image. Thus, I had to strike a balance between understandability and deep details. The nuances I didn’t try to represent fully include:

• National Rums of Jamaica is equally owned by the Sugar Company of Jamaica, Demerara Distillers Ltd, and the West Indies Rum Distillery in Barbados. However, to be extra accurate, the Jamaican government owns the Sugar Company of Jamaica, while Maison Ferrand owns the West Indies Rum Distillery.

• J. Wray & Nephew owns numerous rum brands. I included all I know, but there may be others.

• National Rums of Jamaica also owns the Innswood aging facility. However, since it no longer distills, I did not include it.

• The Spirits Pool Association is the trade group composed of Jamaica’s rum makers. They were in the news recently regarding changes to Jamaica’s rum GI.

To see a map of Jamaica’s distilleries, see Jamaica Rum Distillery Map and Notes.

To see all my recent coverage of Jamaica rum and its distilleries, visit this page.