Captain Morgan

Origin : Despite alluding to the idea that the origins of Captain Morgan rums can be traced back to the days when Captain Henry Morgan settled down to the life of a businessman and Governor, rather than that of the famed buccaneer, the history of Captain Morgan rum can in fact only be dated as far back as the 1940s.

Captain Morgan Rum Company was founded in 1945, by Sam Bronfman, the President and CEO of Seagram's drinks company. Purchasing the Long Pond Distillery in Jamaica, Sam bought an age-old family recipe for spiced rum from the Levy Brothers, two Jamaican pharmacists from Kingston. That recipe would become the inspiration for Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum.

During the 1950's Seagrams took advantage of tax breaks offered by the US government and built a large distillery in Puerto Rico. In 1985 Seagrams sold this distillery to the Puerto Rican company, Destilería Serrallés, who have continued to make Captain Morgan rum under licence since. Then in 2001, Seagrams sold the Captin Morgan brand to the drinks manufacturer Diageo, who has since invested in a new rum distillery on the island of St Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Completed in 2010, this distillery will take over the production of Captain Morgan rum, when Destilería Serrallés' licence expires in 2012.

Today Captain Morgan Rum is one of the largest spirits brands in the world and has continued to expand its range of rums, primarily in the US and Canada. Along with a range of flavoured rums under the Parrot Bay brand, Captain Morgan produces over 10 different rums, including White, Golden, Dark, Flavoured, Spiced and Premium Spiced.

I'm pleased to say though that during the summer of 2011, the UK branding has been changed to finally incorporate the Captain on the bottle, with a subtle shift in the name to Captain Morgan's Spiced. Hopefully it also means we'll start seeing the Captain Morgan adverts as well, such as those hosted on the Captain Morgan Youtube Channel.