The identifiable ingredients I saw used in the St. Lucian variants were: Cinnamon (the bark in the less commercialized versions, Sticks in the bottles that had fancier color labels and a seal), Bay leave and its seeds, nutmeg, cloves, Mauby Barks (moby bark in St. Lucia), Star anise, Dried dill and its seeds, rosemary, Dried basil flower stalks, allspice berries, Bois Bande, mace, allspice, vanilla pods, huge centipedes, large caterpillars, cannabis flowers and roots, grenadine syrup, fresh cherry juice/syrup, cane syrup, falernum, honey.
The three main locally produced variants are based on the inputs to the spices. The first is a traditionally spiced rum, meaning that they add white rum to the spice and nothing else. The 2nd is a sweetened version using honey and or cane syrup/falernum and white rum. The 3rd is bright red due to the use of Grenadine syrup or fresh cherry juice or syrup with white rum. One of the grenadine based versions I had was very heavy handed on the syrup and it tasted of strong grenadine with spice.
The rum used in St. Lucia to make this is always white rum. The only aging takes place in small oak barrels that producers of this stuff have at home to store the strong rums used. The white rum used ranges from about 80%-40% ABV.
The effects of the different spices used are said to be either curative, a natural aphrodisiac, or get you high. The spiced rum containing centipedes, and caterpillars is said to be the most curative of the local spiced rum. They say you need to let if ferment for many years for it to be as potent as possible. You take a small drink of it and sweat off the illness overnight. Bois Bande variations are said to be like a natural viagra.
After tasting my way through may bottles I had to figure out which ones to take home in my already massive rum purchases from the distillery and around the castries. Every vendor was happy to offer free samples, there is nothing better than getting a sample with a nice chunk of nutmeg in it. Some were mellower others completely blasted the palate with intense spice and finish. Prices varied from about 10-50 dollars per bottle.
The first bottle I bought in Castries. I tasted a bit and knew I needed one. The rum used on this one was a locally produced rum that was sitting a barrel when he made it, the rum is said to be 100 proof. Small amount of home made falernum. It's jam packed with many spices all the way to the top. After 4 days I tasted a small bit and it was off the charts. The longer it sits the better though and may be reused several times.
The 2nd I tried at a local market and it was also incredible. There is a label on this one but its unsealed and came with some locally produced spices she made as well as a nutmeg with mace and some bois bande and bark. The coconut also it nice protection in the suitcase. This is a traditionally spiced rum. Bought in Vieux fort
Having chosen a few bottles to bring back I was looking over the spices in the market. They had lots of loose spices, being this is some what regulated in terms of bringing back home I opted for one dried bag total weight on my scale at home is 58 grams. I tasted some of the rum made from the bag and opted on this one. The smell is incredibly pungent. There are many more spices in this bag than listed on it, including star anise, a long sprig of basil flowers, cracked nutmeg, among others. I'm working up how I'm going to make it, if I should add extra spice, what syrup or honey etc. First thing is to buy and dump a bottle of 1.5L carlo rossi down the toilet.
Bag states for blood circulation and arthritis and more... I opted for the curative mix and it can be re-used four or five time.
Another more commercial spiced rum I thought I would mention on this post about St. Lucia was found at the St. Lucia distillery. It called Kweyol spiced rum. I found the tasting at the distillery to not be as great, but opted to bring a 3 stack of rums home that did include it. The rum comes sometimes in the 700 ml bottle with a vanilla pod. It is either 35% or 40% ABV. It is infused with bois bande bark.
The three stack rums are not sealed around the cork save for the top bottle. So I opted to try the Kweyol again, the bottle is 250ml. It was much better than I recalled and I would recommend it highly. While not as strong on the spice as the local spiced rum its an easy sipper and I like it better than the chairman's spiced which seems very heavy on the cinnamon and sweetness compared to this more traditionally spiced rum
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