Stakeholders in the local rum industry are happy that this year’s sugar harvest is gearing up for an early start. Managing Director of the Barbados-based West Indies Rum Distillery (WIRD) Andrew Hassell said this augurs well for the spirits sector which uses 100 per cent cane product that includes raw cane juice, white or brown cane sugar, cane syrup, evaporated cane sugar and cane molasses.“That’s exciting and they are saying that they are expecting a good crop, a 30 per cent increase. That’s great and West Indies Rum’s whole mission is about sustainability. The gentleman who owns the distillery takes no dividends, no profit share, no management fees, no salary, nothing. He is putting everything back into trying to help create a sustainable field-to-bottle model, where the value-added agricultural product is in a bottle,” Hassell said in an interview with Barbados TODAY.
