It’s the home of some of the world’s most greatest cocktails, from the Bahama Mama to the Goombay Smash. 

And The Bahamas has been an epicenter for rum from the days of swashbuckling to the age of rum running to its longtime place as the home of much of Bacardi’s operations. 

And now, for the first time in decades, the country is home to a new rum distillery. 

It’s called the Bahamas Distilling Company, and the Freeport-area facility has officially started production. 

The plan is to launch six different brands of rum, with bottling set to start soon on a spiced rum and a coconut rum. 

The range will eventually include Fathom, a 73-degree overproof rum; Marlin, a gold rum; Iguana, a gold rum; Hammered, a coconut rum and Floating Pig, a spiced rum. 

At the core of the rum is a French copper column still from the 1950s that made its way to Freeport by way of South Africa. 

“The Bahamas Distilling Company is Afro-Bahamian by origin and Bahamian by heritage,” the company says. “Our legacy lies in the sun kissed beaches and beyond the turquoise depths of the Caribbean Sea. We are the rising tide that carries with it all the hopes and dreams of those before and after us. Classically crafted and expertly blended, each bottle of our signature rum imparts a piece of our heritage.”

For more, visit The Bahamas Distilling Company.