Scotch Pirates of the Caribbean

So I went off to St. Vincent and The Grenadines.

And there, seemingly lost in Davy Jones'Locker, I found an amazing single malt, with a whole lot of history attached to it. And it was such a Singlemalt that it intermingles perfectly with the history of St. Vincent.

It is a fact that if you go to most English-speaking Caribbean nations, you will find quite nice selections of Single Malt, because of some very interesting reasons. You would think that Scottish Pirates had something to do with developing the market and taste for Single Malt accross the blue Caribbean sea, and you would be partly right but, then again, you would also be wrong.

So if you are parched and thirsty, how do you go about finding special Single Malts with little effort when stranded in a tropical island in the Caribbean?

The secret to prying them from Davy Jones' cold hand, is to follow the footsteps of the Portuguese. The Portuguese that came to the Caribbean all the way from the Island of Madeira, that is.

How is that, you ask?

Well, Portugal's Madeira Island is situated some 700 Kms off the northern coast of Africa (in front of Morroco) and it is as modern as any other european region, boasting engineering marvels such as modern highways tunneled throughout the rocky island, and an airport which stretches from the island into land claimed from the sea at a height of about five stories above sea level.

Pharaonic like colums-notice the scale of the cranes houses and highrises.


The airport is a true marvel of engineering, in the 1970's the short airport of back then caused Portugal's most tragic accident when one airplane could not stop in time and plummeted downwards at the end of the runway.

Madeira's lifestyle is of European quality today, But this was not the case always, and starting a little bit more than a hundred years ago, many a madeiran left the then impoverished island and went off seeking better fortune to Venezuela, and Brasil, and of all places, many a caribbean island. The difference was that the Venezuelan and Brasilian migrations from Madeira are very large and quite recent, but the first Madeirans who came to the English Caribbean arrived at the beginning of last century, and some of them came as indentured servants.

But even indentured, they knew about wines and they knew about trading in spirits because, You see, since centuries before the incorporation of Portugal to the European Union in the Nineteen Eighties, Madeira had boasted of being home to several drinkable marvels of biochemical engineering. Madeira Wines such as Boal, Sercial, Verdelho and Barbeito have been traded for centuries, quite successfully throughout the world, mostly by Englishmen.

So, after the end of Slavery in the British Colonies, it was not so strange that the English traders on Madeira Wines, with cousins and relations who traded sugar and spices from the Caribbean and who were in need of a steady work force, might have been instrumental in the arrival of Madeirans to these sunny and tropical islands. And these Madeirans not only came with superb work ethics, but some of them also came with knowledge of trade and more importantly, of trade in spirits.

And so you might come to the Caribbean and if you are in search of a good Single Malt or a nice selection of fine wines, then you must look for a trader with a portuguese last name, or a similarly named shop, and you will find what you are looking for, or something in that category. For Example in Trinidad, you may direct yourself to Fernandes-Purveyors of fine Wines and Spirits. Sadly they do not trade on single Malts, but you already know that there is a nice Cache of aging Blackadders writhing in Trinidad's Piarco Airport, anyway.

As for me, while in Saint Vincent, I decided to follow the steps of the portuguese and I found an amazing, and very inexpensive Single Malt in downtown Kingstown at the aptly named Gonsalves Liquors, which has a duty-free liquor store at the E.T. Joshua Airport also, offering a wide selection of imported wines, spirits and liqueurs, stored in their temperature controlled cellars. And at Gonsalves' I found an outstanding Single Barrel-15 years old-Bottled by Hand-Balvenie, at the delightful price of 130 Eastern Caribbean Dollars, which is some 27 British Pounds, or a mere 50 USD. An excellent price from my point of view.

Please notice the clear gold color of this Balvenie, which is consistent with single cask scotch wiskies. Furthermore notice that this was bottle No. 22 drawn from cask No. 214. This Scotch was put in cask on 01/03/91 and was bottled fifteen years later on 02/08/06, by hand by the scottish souls which took the trouble of writing the No. 22 in the bottle. Bless their Hearts.

As soon as I arrived to my hotel after purchasing the bottle, I opened it and had a couple of drams (The fluid dram is defined as 1⁄8 of a fluid ounce, Dram is also used informally to mean a small amount of liquid, especially Scotch whisky). The 15 Yrs old was delicate and delicious. It lived to my expectations and was a great buy. Afterwards, I went off to take the small ferry that would take me to lunch in Young Island's resort, which sits a good 1500 feet from the hotel I was Staying in. In the way over to the ferry I was approached by a cool Rastaman named Ian, who offered his boat The "Rumors" for charter. We stroke a two day deal and the next day he picked me up at the beach infront of my hotel and was to take me to the set where they filmed Pirates of the Caribbean. The very set where Capatain Jack Sparrow makes his entrance atop the mast of a sinking lifeboat. It just so happens that the set still stands and is in somewhat nice condition still. On the way to the set we went into the shipyard where they built the Black Pearl and once close to the set you may see the gallows where they tried to hang Jack Sparrow. Now the added surprise to the whole thing was that as I was climbing into the boat infront of my hotel, Ian the Rastaman tells me that he has invited three British female doctors in their twenties to join us. And off we went into the open sea.

Once in the set of Pirates of the Caribbean, we had a small encounter with the Excise Men. It was just fitting, there I am with a bottle of Single Malt, very far in time and space from the scottish distillers who were running from the King's Excise Men. Later on, I guess the Government's customs had to appear inevitably in the sights of buccaneers and pirates, and today tourists are no exception. Here you see the Rasta Ship Rumors, Chartered by Yours Truly being besieged by SVG Customs. The Customs officials were so very interested in our cargo that while having Single Malt and Beers in the restaurant by the set, one of the officers came about stealthily and sat down by us, and I suppose did not feel like asking for papers when he heard the British English spoken by the Girls and the Working Class American spoken by me. They were quite familiar with the Captain of The Rumors, as he had been taken to shore a couple of days before for transporting undocumented colombian citizens. At least that is what he told us.

Here you see the undisputably beautiful, impecable, interesting, and so very Pre-Raphaelite Ella, with Mr Balvenie at her feet, as it could only be fitting for a good Scott to render himself a bondsman to unbriddled beauty, fitting indeed for Mr. Balvenie.

So, as this entry sails into the sunset remember to look for the Portuguese trader in most caribbean islands, in order to find the good Single Malt, and I bid ye, me shivering maties, farewell, Godspeed, and above all, Cheers.