Foursquare

The Foursquare Rum distillery is located on the tiny Caribbean Island of Barbados. It was opened by the Seale family in 1996 as the only Barbadian owned distillery in Barbados.

Foursquare distillery is now run by Richard Seale, 4th generation Trader/Distiller of R.L Seale & Co. Richard Seale has his own personal projects which showcase unique approaches to Rum blending and maturation. They are released when he feels they have reached exceptional quality and available only for a limited time as Exceptional Cask Selections.

Recent selections consist of Mark XV Redoutable, Mark XVI Shibboleth, Mark XVII 2009 and Mark XVIII Indelible.      

Foursquare is synonymous with purity and quality.

The distillery produces smooth-as-silk, rich yet elegant rums. Notes of vanilla, caramel and sweet dried fruits with a hint of spicy nutmeg are usually found.

The character of Foursquare Rums comes from the distillation and cask ageing while the brilliance comes from the passion for making it    

The Foursquare Rum Distillery is home to a range of different brands. However, it may surprise you to know there is only one type of fermentation using distiller’s yeast imported from South Africa. This is a two-step fermentation process, which is computer temperature controlled followed by molasses imported from Guyana gradually added over a twenty-hour period.

All of the rums produced at Foursquare are a mix of pot and column stills.

Given Richard Seale’s love for technology, he had still parts fabricated in Scotland, Italy and Barbados to complete a somewhat unconventional setup of stainless steel and copper columns. Within this, he was able to produce a distillate between 94-95% alc./vol. using only 40 copper trays inside the rectifying column. Most distillers use the more common 75 trays to produce 96% alc./vol.

Foursquare always blends their rums both before and after aging with all casks, and age in American white oak ex-bourbon whiskey casks. However, Richard Seale has experimented with the Exceptional Cask Selection being aged in a variety of Sherry, Port, Madeira and Zinfandel casks.

No colours, sugar, additives or filtration is added to Foursquare rums.

Foursquare currently produces roughly 300,000 cases of rum per year, all of which are produced and bottled at the Foursquare Distillery in Barbados.     

Prior to becoming Foursquare, the Seale family with rum-making expertise dating back to 1820 were based in Barbados. Due to Barbados Excise Law prohibiting the sale of rum direct to the customer, Reginald Leon Seale established an export business in Bridgetown, Barbados. And the brand R. L. Seale was born. The brand prospered so well that between 1962 and 1993 it acquired the rum portfolios of ESA Field, Alleyne Arthur (inc. Old Brigand), Taylors Falenum and Doorly's.    

In 1995, Sir David Seale purchased a sugar factory and began the renovation which would become the Foursquare Distillery and Heritage Park.

In 1996 the distillery was reopened by the Seale family after the renovation of the plantation. With a state of the art bottling plant on site and installing environmentally friendly equipment, Foursquare has become one of the most modern distilleries not just in Barbados but the world.