Rum Journal: Cooper Island’s Remarkable Rum Bar

It’s the end of the afternoon, sky and water both silver, and there’s just one thing on the menu: rum.

You stroll up the dock, past a smattering of barrels and enter what must be paradise on earth.

Here, on a tiny island outpost of the British Virgin Islands, is one of the world’s greatest rum bars.

This is the Rum Bar at the Cooper Island Beach Club, a safe harbor for sailors and a pilgrimage point for all who love the Noble Spirit.

Launched a few years ago, the Rum Bar began life as the biggest collection of rum in the British Virgin Islands.

Today, thanks to continuous expansion and rum acquisition, t’s one of the biggest rum bars in the Caribbean and the world, in the rum bar pantheon that includes stops like Antigua’s Papa Zouk, the 101 Rums Bar at the Four Seasons Nevis and Zemi Beach’s Rhum Room in Anguilla.

It’s got a seriously impressive collection from across the West Indies, including the famous Black Tot, the last extant British Royal Naval Rum.

And there’s a great portfolio of Rhum Agricole, something that has been happily expanding its reach in the BVI in the last year, from Neisson to Bally to Rhum JM.

The 10-room Cooper Island Beach Club is one of our favorite spots in the BVI, whether you’re sailing or staying the night.

This is a true rum destination, a place where every rum aficionado should go at least once in his or her life.

And then come back again and again.

– Alexander Britell