The Lone Caner

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This 7,000-word essay is the transcript of a four part video opinion I released in February 2025, based on an unpublished essay written mostly in 2023 and amended over the subsequent months and years. I have elected to not include a bunch of graphics and pictures to go with it, because it’s long and deserves to be read as it is without distraction.

If video is your thing, they are on YouTube

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

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Part 1 – Introduction and Background

Hello everyone

Today I’m going to do a fairly long four-part opinion piece. This is something that has been on my mind for a fairly long time. It’s part of a much longer essay that I wrote but I never published,whose genesis was a small opinion I tacked on to the end of the OFTD Key Rums review back in November 2023 but it got too long and I removed it. That in turn was based on my observations and thoughts over the last decade, and it kept percolating in my mind ever since, because the subject keeps coming up – as well as questions by new entrants into the rum world, who don’t know the story; and although the rhetoric has died down quite a bit of late, the underlying issues behind it really haven’t. The situation is sleeping, not dead.

To state it succinctly, Planteray (still sometimes referred to as Plantation, its previous name, or Maison Ferrand, its parent company) is a love or hate proposition. There is no indifference, no reflective centre where the opposing sides can meet, no middle ground. Anytime you start mentioning the company or its rums in a public space, a position is taken, will be taken, must be taken — and then inevitably, you’ll be drawn into online fights that stand for one side or another. 

You either like their rums or despise the outfit, or dislike both (few that I know have the courage to say they like both, fewer still accept anyone else can), and if you need to ask “why?” then you’re not as much into rums as you think you are. In all my time of writing about rums and personalities and companies that are involved, I’ve never seen anything near this level of despite, and I go way back to the days of the original Ministry of Rum forum, where Capn Jimbo was always doing his schtick, back in the day.

I think this ongoing brouhaha hurts the category of rum more than anything else…the more so since it is clearly egged on by agendas which are not always clear. And all this incendiary back and forth over the last ten years has not, changed the facts on the ground one iota … and frankly, I doubt it ever will. 

Background

So…let’s rewind a bit and let me give you a precis. Founded in 2003 as a branch of Maison Ferrand the cognac maker, Planteray – Plantation back then –  had a decent enough reputation until about 2015 or so. They made good low rent efforts like the white Three Star and the Original Dark, and were starting to be an independent bottler of some note; they were putting out the same kind of Barbadian or Grenadian or Guyanese or Jamaican rums as others were. I had actually written some reviews of those early releases.

Their labels did leave something to be desired, but this was not unusual for the time, and if eyebrows were raised about the whole business of secondary maturation and finishes — though they were following a practise which was not entirely new — it was mostly because, rather than an exception, Plantation made it a rule for pretty much all their products. But we could live with that.

Starting around 2015 and going on for the next years, however, four things occurred that changed the face of the rum landscape generally, and impacted Plantation quite significantly:

• For one thing there was the undisclosed sugar controversy which implicated scores of distillers around the world, and several independent bottlers and brands including Plantation (of course, this was the hydrometer test and Scandinavian liquor monopolies that started to do serious tests and publishing them, and this created a huge uptick of interest as to whether rums were adulterated or not, especially since we had been told all these years that “Oh no, we haven’t been doing that”) .. so that was a thing
• the purchase of WIRD in Barbados in 2017 — after bailout attempts went nowhere and other commercial enterprises declined to buy it, Maison Ferrand bought it
• Then of course there were the subsequent battles over the Barbados and Jamaican GI – which, by now, has entered the rum zeitgeist and everybody more or less knows about it, and 
• the eruption of indignation over the name “Plantation” predating but lent strength by the BLM movement (a complete and total PR balls-up by MF), which last finally evoked a promise to change the company’s name to be less offensive in a culturally-charged world…and for which we waited for years, only to get the completely original name of “Planteray” in January 2024 (you just gotta ask yourself what these guys were thinking, honestly).

Those were the highlights that created some of the issues and dislike for the company … but there’s more and other issues raised their heads over time deriving from these:

• The commentariat in more than one country consider their business practices unethical (at best), dating right back to the acquisition (or “theft of”) of the Ferrand family name and ousting of the original owners of the original cognac company that is the corporate umbrella
• The reputed and purported strong-arming of retail establishments to stock their products at the expense of others (the old Bacardi distribution model). You know, “you get to stock our rums, but if you do, you can’t stock those from over there if you stock mine.” That kind of thing.
• They have been accused of misleading the public on their blends and in their various press releases: to the extent that it has become — and I swear this is true — an article of faith that they flat out lie with every breath — this is actually a thing now (which has led to a microscopic examination of their every utterance, every promotion, every ad, every release). And this probably goes a long way to explaining why Mr. Gabriel does not engage in public any longer – he’d get his ass handed to him if he tries
• Those with long memories would also recall Mr. Gabriel’s somewhat tone-deaf comments that casually invalidated centuries of Caribbean rum-making tradition, by baldly stating how he was there to “save Barbados rum” and how rums should be made like cognac, dating from early years of his public engagement.
• But more than any one thing, calumny has been hurled in their direction for their intransigent stance on weakening the Barbadian and Jamaican GI proposals, for the stubborn insistence on secondary ageing of Caribbean rums in France and using all sorts of experimental techniques (and calling them “traditional” when they were likely not) while somehow still touting the majesty and originality of the terroire they supposedly represent. 
• Aaaand…that strikes a lot of people as being not just discourteous and disrespectful comments by a Johnny-come-lately foreign interloper, of rums made for centuries in the Caribbean…and complete and utter bullshit. And that’s consumers, producers, commentators … you know, everyone has a stake in this and talks about quite a bit

Impact

Stoked by online netizens and their like minded supporters who use personal attacks, constant criticism and vicious trolling on social media, this has resulted in an appalling split in the online community. 

The frenzied denunciations of this one company have taken on a life of their own; they are brought up at every opportunity (sometimes with the flimsiest of connections), and in so doing tar everyone associated with the brand, for or against — writer, influencer, blogger, consumer, employee, shop owner, barman…everyone. Liquor store owners have been known to downplay that they even stock the company’s rums; writers withhold their reviews; consumers hardly dare mention that they enjoy the brand’s bottlings for fear of the inevitable backlash; (the only exceptions are the young blood and new reviewers who don’t know the story) it has become so intense that it is no longer possible to have a rational discussion with anyone on the subject. 

In one particularly egregious (I’m thinking of a stronger word) example, a local WIRD employee who copped a prize of excellence in rum making a few years ago was not congratulated for his achievement, as you might expect, but told he (and all other employees) should quit in moral outrage at working for such a company. It’s gotten that stupid.

The anger and associated hate that this thing has started has driven more people away from engaging thoughtfully in public than even the dosage issue from a decade earlier which started in 2014 or so (and trust me, I was there – that was no picnic). If you were to listen to all those who without fail berate, bully, belittle, and correct every single statement and every single action taken by Plantation (or any commentator on, let alone defender of, the company) you’d be forgiven for concluding that this one outfit is Voldemort personified, without the redeeming qualities. Really, it’s like it no longer matters what they do: they could sh*t diamonds from a platinum asshole, donate the entire proceeds therefrom to the eradication of poverty and climate change simultaneously, and still they would be considered one step removed from the sweat of Beelzebub’s sulphur ridden testicles. That’s, really, where this has gotten to

I’ll continue this in Part II

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Part 2 – Critical Commentary, Pros and Cons

So, In Part 1, I was talking about the background of the problems that Planteray faces, and the reasons why there is such polarization of opinions about the company, and why people are both fed up with it and love taking sides about it, and how this has split the online rum community.

There’s a lot of critical commentary out there. Some of it is led by advocates for the consumers, some by producers, some by industry advocates, some by bloggers or reviewers, many by consumers themselves, but there is no question that everyone has an opinion, and usually that’s against Planteray.

I contend that this is ultimately not only counterproductive for rum as a whole, but does the reputations of those who indulge in it no favours whatsoever (whatever delusions of being Defenders of the Faith they might tell themselves…and they do). 

It makes the ongoing and condescending ad hominem dismissals, even insults, directed at anyone with a voice raised in favour of Plantation (even those who recount facts and don’t traffic in opinions), seem like personal, private vendettas against them, because it’s always so personal — and, if you read them over time, it’s hard to avoid that many of them actually are, and to me, that dilutes their effectiveness quite a bit.

If you think I’m kidding about this, just go through Facebook and Reddit or whatever, or google the stuff, and, trust me, the arguments will come up, as well as the invective and dislike and even hate — it’s right out there in the open.

But let’s just consider some of the main points of contention

Secondary ageing in another country, which is one of the original bete noirs of the commentariat is a thing, and always has been. 

It’s done by a majority of rum making or rum producing companies and brands – especially the independents –  and with Sheer and various dealers, sellers and brokers in the frame, it is unavoidable. Sometimes it’s all in the country of origin, sometimes it’s in another. It’s not unusual. It happens and always has, and that’s the issue, because real value is seen to be accruing to the country of issue, not the country of origin.

Be that as it may, there is no law prohibiting it – at least, no yet. If the charge is that it should not be called or labelled as a Jamaican or Barbados rum when aged externally for any period – which is a tenet of some (but not all) GI requirements – that’s perfectly fine and should be fought for…but in the courts and with the Government of the affected country and in educational seminars and masterclass sessions of international rum festivals, not in the pages of social media where f*ck, it just goes off the rails and dissolves people’s thinking like acid.

Whether nor not Plantation likes to use the word terroire in its marketing, as another point … and you know, they’ve gotten ten different kinds of shit about it .. but it is just that – marketing…and anyone who expects truth in advertising, in marketing, is clearly not in business and worse, is begging to be lied to. 

To make an argument on the nefarious nature of Plantation because (gasp!) they lie about terroire (or deliberately use it incorrectly in their promotional material) is to repeal modern consumer targeting. 

Moreover, by focusing on this one company, you’re giving everyone else who does the same thing a free pass, which I think is both blinkered and unfair – I mean come on, be consistent and complete in your criticism, would you please? 

And come on – do we really expect truth in advertising? It’s like a real estate agent assuring you as he pats you on the back while picking your pocket “It’s about you, not me.” Sure.

Another point I wanted to make is this: If Planteray fights to get a weak or amended GI in place, that’s a business decision on their part, just as it is a business decision on the part of the other distillers to fight it, and the attendant moral outrage that everyone pretends to, is completely irrelevant: is nothing but a way to get people fired up, because if you think about it, the morality of the case each side supports conveniently aligns with each side’s financial interests – and that highly vocal minority which makes the most noise have exactly zero impact on any of that.

And if you ask what those interests are, well, here are some matters to consider:

A strong GI which codifies local rules of production and labelling – especially the various value-added processes like fermentation, distillation, long ageing and premiumization that speak to the uniqueness of the country’s rum making heritage and the rum’s profile (Jamaica is a really good example of this) is clearly in the interest of producers who set that standard

It is the producers who set those standards – not unnaturally, in their own interest – and the Governments take those recommendations into account when enacting the law that enshrine them. However, as an aside, just because a country has a GI, and many already do, it takes a much more concerted political effort to have that accepted by major trading blocs like the US and the EU. If they see their own tax paying indie bottlers, brands and producers being hamstrung by such rules, they may demand changes from their own position of economic strength.

Existing companies like Planteray have a huge footprint in markets like the EU – in 2022, for example, they moved 400,000 liters of their rums through Sweden alone. Further, In some Scandinavian countries, shelf space, shelf locations and retail access to the Government monopoly stores is determined by a points system based on sales, and the name of the product is linked to that – changing the name of a rum from “Barbados Rum” to “Rum from Barbados” means it is treated like a brand new product and they have to start again from the very bottom (literally), rebuilding a presence and market share that took a decade or more to create – and you wonder why Planteray would fight a regulation that would kneecap them and hand sales to its competitors, for that kind of sales volume in a single country? People, you cannot be serious. 

It somehow seems never to compute that if Planteray fails, or reduces its output and goes under because of such rules, a lot of people will be out of work and a lot of taxes would be foregone, which is also something not often considered or discussed when the GI comes up.

In any case, the final ruling on that GI is ultimately not the province of outspoken European or North American rum lovers (no matter how well intentioned they are), but that of Barbadians and Jamaicans, lawyers, Governments, actual producers, their local employees and consumers, and people who are actually, you know, impacted by this. 

It always irritates me when I see a bunch of people from the global North who have no commercial interest, no Barbadian or Jamaican connections outside their love of the rum, act as if their whole lives will come to an end if Plantation “wins” (whatever the f**k that means) and then go scorched earth with an air of martyrdom in their words. It disrespects the ability of the islanders to come to a decision of their own or anyone else to have a dissenting opinion. So it’s like you can either have one or the other, you’re for us or against us. I mean, what?…whatever happened to constructive debate and engagement in these matters?

Such critics as I mention may not be buying the company’s rum on principle, or even banning the company from their review queue or their festivals – which is absolutely their right —  but in what universe do they think they are doing regular islanders or the country affected a favour? 

By what right do they claim to speak for Jamaica and Barbados? Because they took a holiday there and bought a Foursquare rum? Because their grandparents came from there? Give me a f***ing break. They don’t live there. 

Richard Seale can do that and has every right to do so because it’s his country, his company, his livelihood and his employees at risk, so he has every right to get up on his soapbox and talk the story that he wants to have told, and to make his case … but… all the other moral crusading asshats I keep reading and hearing (almost all of whom, remember, are not from Barbados or Jamaica at all) should just chill. Their arguments at end don’t matter, because they have no impact, and will have no impact — none — on what the Barbadian and Jamaican Governments will enact into law. All they do is walk around pretending they are influencers, make a whole lot of damned noise, destroy relationships, break friendships and make people swear off rums altogether because it’s “just too much bloody drama.”

Again – who does this help, since all their vitriol has so far not moved the needle one single inch? I submit that their attitudes and for sure those who egg them on with regular incendiary posts of their own, have done more damage to the rum community than to Planteray ever has.

“They make a desert and call it peace” wrote Tacitus nearly two thousand years ago, and that pretty much sums up all that they have accomplished so far.

We’ll continue this in Part III

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Part 3 – The Reality And A More Balanced Approach

So, in Part 1, I talked about the background and issues that explained why Planteray is so hated and derided in the global rumworld – the rumiverse if you will. And in Part 2 I discussed some of the points of view and weaknesses, as I saw them, of the commentariat – both who was doing the commenting and some of the arguments they liked to make.

Now, these arguments do exist, and they do sway people’s minds, except that … what have they accomplished? Because to my mind, in spite of all these herculean effort to diminish, control or otherwise hinder the company, Planteray shows no sign of slowing down at all.

It continues to exist, its balance sheet is healthy and sails on in the face of all this dislike and negative online posturing. It is a successful rum producer, like it or not, and a successful indie bottler, like it or not. Moreover, they have actually adapted quite a bit to some of the critiques they have received, so it’s not as if they ignore everyone and do their own thing as conventional wisdom suggests. 

For example, although initially getting a hit for the sugar imbroglio, they now provide this information on dosage levels, and their high-end single barrel offerings are usually free of additives. Too, some of those Jamaicans they have released (I’m thinking the 1996 and 1998 single barrel editions) are really very good.

The company, then, seems to be well run commercially, has a good eye on developing trends and emerging markets, and its line of rums is to be found just about everywhere, which is no small feat. Given the enormity of its output and ageing space in Barbados, you have to ask whether a GI in any form, in any country, would actually hurt them — and, consequently, why on earth they are fighting it so hard – it is not, after all, an existential threat to their business model as it supposedly is for the others, aside from the naming of rums, and shelf space issue I spoke about in Part 2.

On the flip side they may not be impacted very much by the criticism they get from all and sundry, but fuck me, they really are masters of the own-goal at times, and their PR can be summed up as “doofus amateur hour” at best, as attested to by the various intemperate comments, clumsy attempts at justification and damage control, and the long-delayed multi-year name change. They really have not helped themselves very much, and that just gives their critics loads of ammunition.

“What abut their business practices?” you might reasonably ask.

Maybe there have been side deals to get them there and shoulder others aside from markets, bars, cruise ships and store shelves. Maybe they have indeed recruited cold-eyed legal eagles and soulless lobbyists to ram a piss-poor regulatory regime down everyone’s throat. Maybe their business practises skirt the edges of ethics or toe the very fine line of legality as many people claim – I myself don’t know and won’t speak to that, because so far precious little facts that have been put into evidence (perhaps because to do so is to invite a libel suit).

But the harsh truth is that for all the rather innocent comments about how companies should be open and transparent in their dealings, come on, let’s face some reality: business is business, you don’t freely hand out competitive advantage, you do what you have to to get market share, and you make what you have to that sells.

Now, I don’t like this brutally cynical modus operandi, which goes all the way back to the 1970s when the Friedman Doctrine emerged, and various business titans like Jack Welch maintained that shareholder value was the only that mattered, profits by whatever means was everything, and the people can go to hell. I completely despise that attitude.

But it is a real fact of modern commercial operations, and I do live in the real world. 

Few organisations in this day and age have the luxury of ethics not mandated by law, they do the bare minimum they need to comply with the rules, and skirt ‘em every chance they get —  everyone does it and let’s not pretend otherwise. And, fewer still bind themselves voluntarily to such a concept of transparency and fairness. You don’t have to respect or even like Planteray, to accept that this is a business tenet just about all companies practise. 

The idea that companies should somehow forego market share, competitive advantage, sales,  or revenue potential by being honest and open about all things is to close one’s eyes to hundreds of years of corporate shenanigans that prove the exact opposite. And it leads to the farcical conclusion, for example, that the 2008 global meltdown that the unhung criminals who called themselves the financial Masters of the Universe created, was just an honest mistake. And, if those Wall Street hucksters and con artists had accepted Jesus into their hearts and been honest and transparent, it would never have happened. 

Nonsense. No no no no no…. Business is business, the weak go to the wall, and that’s just a fact of life, and we’ve got to accept that — that’s the rulebook that Planteray seems to be playing by. And I’m sure that in one way or the other, so does everybody else. We just don’t know about it, since the incessant and obsessive focus on just this one company makes them a convenient lightning rod that obscures our ability to see – and point out – what everyone else is doing.

So who wins?

In the final analysis, almost a decade of attacking the company has not changed anything at all, and has had no effect on what will end up happening to the company. Even now, they remain every bit as visible as they ever were, if not more. It sure looks like Planteray has taken the approach that all press — good or bad —  is free advertising and that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. 

Since Planteray can’t be wished away by constant negative articles or made to go away by insulting it in public, let’s just deal with some reality and acknowledge that perhaps, just perhaps, it’s time to consider that an accommodation with the company will have to be reached one day, however distasteful that is to so many people whose egos are now so vested and bound up in this one issue. 

Because you see, if its many critics and detractors in and out of the industry are to be believed, Planteray has a lot of political, legal and commercial influence, and no hesitation in using it. While the GI stalemate goes on and on and wends its way through the regulatory agencies, ministries, Parliamentary committees and maybe one day the courts, while compromise is off the table and no middle ground can be agreed on, time is passing, and WIRD has thousands of barrels ageing nicely in their warehouses that will one day conform to whatever GI is agreed on, strong or weak, and if done right might then cause the existing distilleries some loss of market share anyway.  WIRD is the single largest distiller in Barbados, — whatever it is they produce and whoever they sell it to — employs people and pays a boatload of taxes (which is what Governments like to see) and that ⅓ share in National Rums of Jamaica is not chicken feed either. 

In fact, so potentially lucrative is the whole edifice that is Planteray and WIRD — and even its detractors clearly see that and maybe even fear it — that it really begs the question as to why a consortium of Barbadian producers or investors could not have ponied up or arranged Government backed external financing for the purchase of WIRD themselves, back in 2017 – I mean, wasn’t it sold for something like US$28 million? 

The cynic in me suspects that while Barbadian producers were initially pleased that someone had bought it, privately they would not have been unhappy to let this ageing mastodon go dead because 

(a) the shortfall of the discontinued rum production from the island on existing contracts (like malibu) might go to them 

(b) they wouldn’t have to cover the cost of upgrading and refurbishment to modern standards and keeping employees on payroll and bearing short- and medium- term losses if they themselves bought it

On the other hand, maybe they simply didn’t do a cold eyed analysis of what the long term benefits could be — and rather than thinking about the sort of multi-island blends and brands Planteray came up with, they thought only of the impact on their own. Which is completely understandable, but you see why this is an issue.

I imagine they were all quite surprised that instead of going belly-up, or delving a deep hole in Ferrand’s cash flow, those guys invested, upgraded, spent money, made sales, opened markets, and in so doing, became quite successful. In fact, I have a feeling they may have underestimated Mr. Gabriel from the outset, because I personally believe that this is more than just a business venture for him – sure, that’s part of it, but it seems to be something of a passion project too, and he is willing to stick with it for the long term.

The others are playing a similar game now, trying to distinguish themselves via premiumisation, brand distinctiveness, experimental releases like the 4S LFT or Mount Gay Single Estate Series), linking themselves to one way of rum production (the all-Barbados model) that is the better way, surely, but perhaps harder to sell at this juncture. That it will one day help put a spoke in Planteray’s wheel I don’t doubt, but by the time the smoke clears, perhaps not to the extent everyone hopes.  

Because all this time, Planetary is growing, expanding its stable of rums, adding capacity, issuing new releases – Mr. Fogg is just the most recent example of that — and so again, if and when an accommodation or compromise of some kind will inevitably be forced on everyone to get the GI passed: yes, Planteray will still be there.

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Part 4 – Summing Up and Where I stand

So in Part 1 I started by sketching in the background to the Planteray issue and what has resulted from it, in Part 2 I briefly touched on some of the common commentary and flashpoints that surrounded the company, and in Part 3 I talked about business and suggested a more even-handed and reality-based approach for those opposing Planteray.

But in this part I wanted to wrap up, and issue a disclaimer as to what my own personal opinions on this matter are, since I have stayed out of the argument for a very long time

So. Am I onside with Mr. Gabriel and Planteray?  Clearly the preceding paragraphs almost make it seem like I’ve drunk the Cognac-aged sugar-laced kool-aid, been bought from top to bottom, and am now just another soulless, morality-bereft shill toeing the company line (which, for those who will inevitably accuse me of that, says rather more about the brain-dead knee-jerk reflexes, than about their ability to think critically). 

But no, I’m not. I’m absolutely not, and I’m going to say that for the record. I disapprove of their methods and dislike their overly generous interpretation of what constitutes a Barbados (or Jamaican) rum, using any old pretext, deliberate historical misinterpretation, any old document they can find on some failed experiment from f*ck knows how long ago, so that they can muddy the waters just so as to justify whatever it is that they do, and shoehorn that into what will end up being a substandard regulation. I mean, I just don’t like that, and think it’s been taken much too far already.

I also have not asked Mr. Gabriel or Mr. Seale to comment on this article, and with respect to Mr. Gabriel, have met and spoken to him exactly one time in my life (for all of two minutes), never visited his distillery or his place in France, and am in the fortunate position to have never taken any coin from him, which has reliably trotted out to attack one particular freelance writer I know about (but no others).

I’m also not emotionally invested in this, the way that always puzzles me when I consider the anti-Planteray mouthings of some people whose entire online personas seem to be bound up in this one issue, and who you would think would spontaneously combust if Planteray was to ever get it way.

And so, I’m in a position to take a colder, more nuanced approach to the matter. 

Not a more tolerant approach either, because in the matter of the GI my vote – as a Caribbean native – goes for a strong version espoused by the pre-existing distillers who make up “the other side” 

As an aside, I think the nations of the Caribbean and the rum producers of WIRSPA should band together on this one and make a regional GI that encapsulates the best parts of such a strong version. That way value is indeed kept in the islands, and there are movements towards that, but it’s too island-individual as opposed to something a bit more regional and comprehensive, and I’d like to see that happen. Perhaps I’m just as idealistic or naive as everyone else, who knows?

But in any case, I believe this constant refrain about better rums being made with secondary ageing in cognac and the region of Cognac should stop (or at least be reduced), that the completely unnecessary dosing they practise should be reduced if not eliminated and more respect be given to keeping value and production wholly in the islands. Sure, the theory is that using cognac methods to make rum enhances the rum, but come on – rum has a storied and noble tradition of its own that requires little such “enhancement” and if you want to make spirits in the cognac way, then make a bloody cognac and leave rum alone.

I also believe that the company name change took too damned long but now they’ve done it, so that’s gone away, and the only fallout is that they publicly committed to it, people thought it took too long and was being deliberately slow-walked, which to detractors simply proved (as if it was needed) that nothing Planteray ever says can ever be trusted.

Closing thoughts

Okay – so, what I won’t do is proselytise for either standard or either of the two sides: because of course it is – Planteray on one side, versus everyone else. And I have a preference, yes, but not a bias, a subtle distinction that eludes far too many who get all offended when called out on it.  

I will not hammer anyone who professes a liking for Planteray or for Mount Gay or for Foursquare. I won’t bugle my preference from the rooftops, nor will I shamelessly genuflect to either side in order to show my supposed patriotism or support. There’s a reason I don’t have “Save Barbados Rum” apparel — Barbados rum doesn’t need saving, it’s doing just fine on its own – it’s which form of the Barbados rum that needs saving that you might actually talk about. 

Nothing is ever as simple as it seems, or as clear cut, we don’t have enough information to go on, and not enough is known of the moves by the parties behind the scenes to make the case conclusively, no matter how much people believe otherwise. 

Some element of balanced thinking and fairness has to start making its way into the sphere of public discourse, because too much opinion is already masquerades as fact, and too few facts are available at all (the current iteration of the GI, which almost nobody commenting on has actually read but on which everyone has a strident opinion, is a good example of facts not being in evidence). 

I also think – probably with equal innocence or optimism as everyone else’s – that reviewers’ and writers’ egos should be taken out of the equation, and that they all should make a conscious effort to be more honest in their motivations and more alert to being led by the nose by public relations. Opinion shapers, writers and commentators who claim to serve the public good by keeping it informed (and all of us like to believe we do) cannot and should not be seen as taking sides in such a producer-led issue (and it is a producer led issue…it is) – what are we doing, taking sides for one or the other? We are surrendering our own independence and ability to comment objectively and fairly when we so clearly represent one or the other side. 

Now you can, as a human being, have an opinion for one side or the other that is separate from your platform as a reviewer, writer, vlogger, blogger or whatever, but I argue this should be separated. So Lance Surujbally can have his own opinion and voice it offline, but the Lone Caner doesn’t have the luxury of doing so, and owes it to his audience to be more balanced in his reportage if he claims to being an impartial, balanced voice.

And if you think this is all harmless, let me remark that one writer I know, whose work on rum as a whole is exemplary, is so clearly biased in favour of one side here, that the moment I see him publish anything about Barbados or Jamaica, I almost never bother to read it any more. Because what’s the point? His mind is made up, his bias is right there, and nothing I or anyone else can say (including the provision of facts) can shift this immovable point of view. That’s the difference with a preference, which allows for facts and evidence to be weighed and a permits a modification of a point of view which is then not set in concrete, you see?

Can one appreciate or impartially consider a rum if one disagrees with or disapproves of the company that makes it? This was an issue that haunted Flor de Cana about a decade ago – remember how much crap they got for the Chronic Kidney Disease business? I argue that while any consumer can do what he wants because they have that right since it’s their money going out the door, a reviewer cannot be so blase about what they put into the public arena, because anything else — if you start to take sides — would not be in service of consumers, for whom they should be writing, but for producers … on whose behalf they have now become unwitting shills themselves. 

And this goes beyond writers. The hypocrisy of liquor store proprietors speaking for Barbados, wearing the T-shirt and decrying MF’s shenanigans in public while quietly stocking Planteray on their shelves is not the greatest example of putting their money where their mouth is; and when even showrunners of international rum festivals start getting involved, and favour one over the other or even exclude them altogether, well, then there’s surely more than moral indignation at work, and it starts to become obvious that it is all about the money (as I am convinced it always has been).

It’s always strikes me as odd, that the loudest commentators never see a contradiction in taking aim at Planteray at every opportunity but are unable to identify a rum from there in a blind taste test; never seem bothered by not having all the facts and yet opining on things that are nowhere near as clearcut as they make it seem; or that the business case behind the scenes that motivates the players is always left out of just about all discussions, which are then portrayed as if it was all a black-or-white good-versus-evil situation, when the real story is much more complex and nuanced.

But then, as I have found, critical thinking, an understanding of irony or even a sense of humour is way beyond most of these sanctimonious loudmouths who pontificate so often. I can tell you this for sure: most people who observe these ongoing social media fights from the sidelines without ever commenting themselves, privately tell me that they wish that all parties and their enablers, would just calm the f*ck down. Because since they are not part of the solution, it is clear they are part of the problem…

…and for all the histrionics and hate directed at this one company, Planteray is isn’t going anywhere, hasn’t gone anywhere, and surely isn’t going to.

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So that’s pretty much my rant.  A four piece thing on Planteray. It’s really quite an emotive matter, all this fallout, and I’m trying hard to be polite, but sometimes … I just saw another one of these heated commentaries start up n the /r/rum subreddit not too long ago, a bit more polite than usual, but it’s never going to stop, and at some point, somebody has to inject some sanity into this discussion before it really and truly gets out of hand … 

Because, I’m going to issue this warning, to everyone.  I once commented in an interview I did that the hate and the invective hon this matter had gotten so bad, that I have no idea where it’s going to end. People are already not talking to each other and sundering friendships over it — is it really going to be a fistfight starting on the floor of a rumfest somewhere, between the adherents of one side and the other, who simply don’t like what one party or the other said in an almost-forgotten post from six months before? Have we really gotten to this level of Trumpism? That this is where we are now? 

It’s just like … guy, guys, people…let’s just calm down.

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And that’s it from me, four parts on one of the divisive aspects of our little world. If you have a comment – and I’m sure you will – just let me know what it is, and…well, I’ve had to develop a thick skin for this gig… and yeah, I’m actually a little bit nervous about posting this. But I think it’s time somebody does, because nobody else is.

Take care everyone. Goodbye.

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