Rumbullion: A Historic, Cultural and Scientific Aspect of Barbados Rum
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2025
Pages: 100
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2025
Pages: 114
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This book highlights four aspects of Barbados which are the following: distinct geological features, major historical figures, rum production, and rum celebration.
Why is Barbados geologically unique for rum production?
Barbados, primarily made of coral limestone, resulting from historical tectonics phenomena between the Atlantic and Caribbean plates. Caves thus occurred, as a complementary process, with one of the most renowned formations being Harrison’s Cave. It is famous for its pure calcium-rich, potable water for human consumption and rum-making.
Who are the major figures in the rum economy?
Barbados has a plethora of famous historical figures. For example, Sir John Gay Alleyne was an educational and humanitarian philanthropist for which the Mount Gay Distillery bears his name. Additionally, the distinguished Sir Errol Walton Barrow became the founding Father of Independence and the First Prime Minister of Barbados--initiating progressive reforms and industrial developments to the economy.
How is rum produced?
Rum is an enduring staple in Barbados. Foursquare, Mount Gay, St. Nicholas Abbey and West Indies Rum distilleries, produce distinct types of rum. However, they all use copper pot and column still distillation technology, along with charred American Kentucky White Oak barrels for aging.
How is rum celebrated?
The Crop Over festival and Kadooment fuse ancestral African and modern Barbadian culture and spiritual traditions. The festivals celebrate the harvest of the sugar cane crop for rum making.
To summarize, readers will:
- Gain insights that distinguish Barbados historically and culturally from other geographical locations for rum production.
- Experience sites vicariously or on-site—with both settings offering stimulating and educational experiences.
- Engage at their own pace with the contents of the book to fulfill personal objectives--for pleasure, enlightenment, and reference--concerning the historical, cultural, and scientific aspects of Barbados rum.
Dr. Cheryl Rock is an Associate Professor of Food Science at California State University – Long Beach (CSULB), with concentrations and interests in Ethnomedicine, Food Metaphysics and Rum Science. She is also a native of Barbados and completed her Associates’ degree in Biology and Chemistry at the Barbados Community College (BCC). She acquired her Bachelors’ as well as Masters’ degrees at the Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University. Subsequently after, she received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida. A fun fact about Dr. Rock is that, since the year 2017, she has facilitated a short-term study abroad course in her home country Barbados each year, where CSULB students has joined her to engage in some of the cultural activities while studying the science of rum. This is a unique course because it’s the first and only one that brings students to the Caribbean to study Rum from a cultural, diasporic and scientific perspective. The course is entitled “Distilling and Brewing Technology in Barbados” where students learn earn about Rum Science and its intersection with ancestral African and modern Barbadian culture and spiritual traditions through collaborations with Dr. Elizabeth Metzger. Last, her other research experiences and interests include disease mitigation through plant-based approaches in native foods. For example, her works includes studying the Ethnomedical Properties of Mauby Bark, a popular plant material used to make a beverage in Barbados and the wider Caribbean. Last, she has characterized several compounds in Mauby Bark that are of importance and have been published in the Journal of Food Research.
Dr. Elizabeth Metzger is a Professor in English at the University of South Florida (USF), with concentrations and interests in composition pedagogy, writing program administration, and writing assessment. She earned a Bachelor’s of Art in English from Jersey City State College, New Jersey—and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her collaborative work with Barbadian colleague Dr. Cheryl Rock, her own personal background, and family member Dr. Nzinga Metzger a Cultural Anthropologist, have reinforced and highlighted the global dynamics of the diasporan experience inter-connecting Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States of America. This collaboration offered fascinatingly complementary perspectives to academic scholarship related to the history, celebration, historical figures and production of rum. Moreover, her scholarly activities included working closely with many outreach, mentoring and diversity initiatives at or associated with the USF to help students to achieve, through programs such as the McNair Scholars Program, Area Health Education Center (AHEC), Pre-medical Summer Enrichment Program (PSEP), and Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC U-STAR Program) as well as the McKnight Doctoral Program of the Florida Education Fund (FEF). Additionally, she has been actively involved at the state level in test development and essay scoring for the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) and the Florida Teacher Certification Exam as scorer or chief reader, coordinated through the Institute for Instructional Research and Practice (IIRP) at USF and the Center for Information Training and Evaluation Services (CITES) at Florida State University. Last, some of her research work on writing has been published in the Journal of Food Science Education.
This book highlights four aspects of Barbados which are the following: distinct geological features, major historical figures, rum production, and rum celebration.
Why is Barbados geologically unique for rum production?
Barbados, primarily made of coral limestone, resulting from historical tectonics phenomena between the Atlantic and Caribbean plates. Caves thus occurred, as a complementary process, with one of the most renowned formations being Harrison’s Cave. It is famous for its pure calcium-rich, potable water for human consumption and rum-making.
Who are the major figures in the rum economy?
Barbados has a plethora of famous historical figures. For example, Sir John Gay Alleyne was an educational and humanitarian philanthropist for which the Mount Gay Distillery bears his name. Additionally, the distinguished Sir Errol Walton Barrow became the founding Father of Independence and the First Prime Minister of Barbados--initiating progressive reforms and industrial developments to the economy.
How is rum produced?
Rum is an enduring staple in Barbados. Foursquare, Mount Gay, St. Nicholas Abbey and West Indies Rum distilleries, produce distinct types of rum. However, they all use copper pot and column still distillation technology, along with charred American Kentucky White Oak barrels for aging.
How is rum celebrated?
The Crop Over festival and Kadooment fuse ancestral African and modern Barbadian culture and spiritual traditions. The festivals celebrate the harvest of the sugar cane crop for rum making.
To summarize, readers will:
- Gain insights that distinguish Barbados historically and culturally from other geographical locations for rum production.
- Experience sites vicariously or on-site—with both settings offering stimulating and educational experiences.
- Engage at their own pace with the contents of the book to fulfill personal objectives--for pleasure, enlightenment, and reference--concerning the historical, cultural, and scientific aspects of Barbados rum.
Dr. Cheryl Rock is an Associate Professor of Food Science at California State University – Long Beach (CSULB), with concentrations and interests in Ethnomedicine, Food Metaphysics and Rum Science. She is also a native of Barbados and completed her Associates’ degree in Biology and Chemistry at the Barbados Community College (BCC). She acquired her Bachelors’ as well as Masters’ degrees at the Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University. Subsequently after, she received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida. A fun fact about Dr. Rock is that, since the year 2017, she has facilitated a short-term study abroad course in her home country Barbados each year, where CSULB students has joined her to engage in some of the cultural activities while studying the science of rum. This is a unique course because it’s the first and only one that brings students to the Caribbean to study Rum from a cultural, diasporic and scientific perspective. The course is entitled “Distilling and Brewing Technology in Barbados” where students learn earn about Rum Science and its intersection with ancestral African and modern Barbadian culture and spiritual traditions through collaborations with Dr. Elizabeth Metzger. Last, her other research experiences and interests include disease mitigation through plant-based approaches in native foods. For example, her works includes studying the Ethnomedical Properties of Mauby Bark, a popular plant material used to make a beverage in Barbados and the wider Caribbean. Last, she has characterized several compounds in Mauby Bark that are of importance and have been published in the Journal of Food Research.
Dr. Elizabeth Metzger is a Professor in English at the University of South Florida (USF), with concentrations and interests in composition pedagogy, writing program administration, and writing assessment. She earned a Bachelor’s of Art in English from Jersey City State College, New Jersey—and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her collaborative work with Barbadian colleague Dr. Cheryl Rock, her own personal background, and family member Dr. Nzinga Metzger a Cultural Anthropologist, have reinforced and highlighted the global dynamics of the diasporan experience inter-connecting Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States of America. This collaboration offered fascinatingly complementary perspectives to academic scholarship related to the history, celebration, historical figures and production of rum. Moreover, her scholarly activities included working closely with many outreach, mentoring and diversity initiatives at or associated with the USF to help students to achieve, through programs such as the McNair Scholars Program, Area Health Education Center (AHEC), Pre-medical Summer Enrichment Program (PSEP), and Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC U-STAR Program) as well as the McKnight Doctoral Program of the Florida Education Fund (FEF). Additionally, she has been actively involved at the state level in test development and essay scoring for the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) and the Florida Teacher Certification Exam as scorer or chief reader, coordinated through the Institute for Instructional Research and Practice (IIRP) at USF and the Center for Information Training and Evaluation Services (CITES) at Florida State University. Last, some of her research work on writing has been published in the Journal of Food Science Education.