Brinley Gold Tasting at Fairview Great House

Six Shipwreck pours on a restored French planter's veranda. The only French great house remaining on St Kitts.

Fairview Great House sits in Boyd's Village three miles from Basseterre, on the lower slopes of Olivees Mountain. Built around 1701 to house French military officers, it is the only French plantation house remaining on St Kitts. The estate closed in the late 1990s, sat idle for a decade, and was restored over a three-year programme that reopened it in 2011. The current operation includes the great house itself, two and a half acres of botanical gardens, an apiary, a private chapel, a colonial kitchen, and the Brinley Gold tasting room.

The tasting walks the Shipwreck range in order: the Spiced, the Mango, the Vanilla, the Coffee, the Lime, and the Coconut Cream. Measured pours, one after the next, with a guide who knows the rums and the history of the rum trade on St Kitts. Light snack served. The pace lets the rums settle between pours; the order is built around how the palate reads them best.

The garden is part of the experience. Ten minutes either side of the tasting, walk the paths. The vervet monkeys are usually visible from the lower terrace.

Practical

Duration: About 75 minutes for the tasting itself, plus garden time on either side.
Includes: Six measured pours, light snack, full estate access during the booking window, guided history.
Adults only: 18+ for the tasting. Children welcome on the grounds but not in the tasting room.
Getting there: About fifteen minutes by taxi from Basseterre or the cruise port. The road up from the main highway is unmade and uneven; allow extra time if driving yourself.
What to wear: Comfortable shoes for the gardens.

About Brinley Gold

The Brinley family came to St Kitts in 1986 for electronics manufacturing. When that operation closed in 2002, they partnered with the island's existing distillery to launch the Shipwreck range. The bottle is named for a British troopship sunk by the French navy off St Kitts in 1782. Each label carries a hand-written message inside, dedicated to the men aboard.