Rum Journal: An All-Inclusive Caribbean Rum Shack in Antigua

Guyana’s El Dorado 15. Trinidad’s Angostura 1787. Barbados’ Mount Gay 1703. 

They’re the sort of rums you hardly find together in the Caribbean, iconic West Indian rum expressions that seldom appear on a shelf even at the best of Caribbean bars. 

At Antigua’s Galley Bay, however, they’re right there with one another — and when you’re done sipping them, there isn’t even a bill. 

This is the rum shack at Antigua’s legendary Galley Bay Resort and Spa, an all-inclusive that has rather happily created a Caribbean rum bar just steps from one of the island’s greatest beaches. 

The rum shack is a place for travelers to taste their way around the Caribbean through its most famous spirit, sampling the best of the region on a well-managed journey by the lovely rum-steward Elaine. 

Antigua’s signature bottles are here as well, from the terrific English Harbour 10 to the brand’s latest cask-finish expressions: Madeira, Port and Sherry. 

For the uninitiated, there are classic Caribbean rum cocktails, too: rum and coconut water, the traditional Cuba Libre and rum and pineapple, among others. 

For the curious, there’s a journey around the Caribbean through rum: Wray and Nephew overproof; Havana Club; Gosling’s from the region’s northern neighbors in Bermuda; and even some lovely expressions from the Dominican Republic. 

We’ve long extolled the virtues of traveling the Caribbean through rum, making this a very welcome concept. 

And Galley Bay is right at the forefront in the region, cultivating a destination-within-a-destination, a place not just to enjoy the Caribbean but to discover it anew.

The comfortable cover of palapas, cozy pillowed corners and a setting at the edge of the resort’s signature lagoon only underscore it. 

Because when your ingredients are “all-inclusive” and “rum shack,” well — that’s a hard cocktail to beat. 

For more, visit Galley Bay. 

— CJ