New Senior Leadership at Mount Gay Barbados
Mount Gay Distilleries has a new managing director as of this past September (2022) — Antoine Couvreur. While France-based Remy Cointreau owns the Mount Gay brand, a local managing director has overseen day-to-day production oversight in Barbados. Until recently, that was Raphael Grisoni.
While Couvreur appears to be a newcomer to the production side of the rum industry, Grisoni has been among the rum industry’s most visible leaders for over a decade. As such, this transition may be more than business-as-usual.
Since taking the managing director role in 2008, Grisoni has presided over substantial changes in the business. First and foremost, when Grisoni started, Remy Cointreau’s only owned the brand. The Ward family continued to operate the Rum Refinery of Mount Gay, which had a mostly-exclusive deal with Remy to supply rum for the Mount Gay brand. In 2014 Remy Cointreau purchased the Rum Refinery of Mount Gay, giving them complete control over all aspects of the Mount Gay business. As managing director, Grisoni was surely involved in the purchase.
More recently, Grisoni’s accomplishments have included overseeing the resumption of estate-grown sugarcane and an associated sugar mill to process the sugarcane at the distillery. The mill started operations in September 2022, around the time Grisoni departed for his new role as Remy Cointreau’s country manager for Canada.
Grisoni also played a central role in the recent effort by Foursquare, St. Nicholas Abbey, and Mount Gay to establish a geographical indication (GI) for Barbados rum. In addition, Grisoni has spoken for all Barbados rum makers as the Barbados director of the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producer’s Association, aka WIRSPA.
Grisoni is fortunate to have departed his long Mount Gay tenure on a high note; besides the above, the brand’s recent Master Blender selections have garnered substantial attention from enthusiasts and the press. In short, Mount Gay seems to be firing on all cylinders. Informed sources say that Grisoni may continue to live part-time in Barbados for a while, so Couvreur may have some expert local advice as he learns the ropes of one of the rum industry’s most storied producers.