![](\"https:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/edf0dfd525cf650c5b1a55f496a4c2c0?s=96&d=identicon&r=G\")
![](\"https:\/\/stg.saveur.com\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/12\/446XFUIKEBBRVE7NFXTKXQOYKQ-1024x767.jpg\")
<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/repeatingislands.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/04\/screenshot-2021-04-12-at-10.40.27-pm.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nBlack-owned and bartender-owned, Equiano is a nuanced and dynamic spirit in more ways than one\u2014we spoke to founders Ian Burrell and Aaisha Dadral.<\/p>\n
A report by DAN Q. DAO\u00a0for Saveur<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to get some conversation flowing. We wanted people to start asking: Why shouldn\u2019t a rum sit side-by-side with a top bourbon, a single malt whiskey, an amazing rye, some really good aged tequila, or Cognac?\u201d Ian Burrell says, with a sense of confidence. \u201cBecause that\u2019s what I want people to look at\u2014the rum category. For me, it\u2019s bigger than any one brand. Equiano meant to elevate the whole category.\u201d<\/p>\n Burrell should know a thing or two about this mission: He\u2019s a household name in the spirits industry, founder of\u00a0the world\u2019s first-ever rum festival<\/a>\u00a0(which started way back in 2003), and a multi-award-winning\u00a0global rum ambassador<\/a>. And though Equiano only launched in 2020, it\u2019s fair to say Burrell hasn\u2019t just elevated the category\u2014he\u2019s reimagined it entirely in his own image. \u201cMy ethnicity here in the United Kingdom is African Caribbean,\u201d he explains.\u00a0Equiano Rum<\/a>, as such, is the first African Caribbean rum.<\/p>\n Equiano starts in Mauritius, a small island nation in the Indian Ocean, at the pioneering Grays Distillery, which produces a traditional molasses rum aged in French Limousin oak barrels\u2014including ex-Cognac barrels\u2014for a minimum of 10 years. That liquid is then sent halfway around the world to Barbados\u2019 Foursquare Distillery, where it\u2019s blended with a Caribbean counterpart that\u2019s been aged in American oak ex-bourbon casks.<\/p>\n The result? A rocks-friendly, chestnut-colored spirit that nods to its transatlantic origins, boasting aromas of baking spice and notes of stone fruit and familiar toasted oak, along with Foursquare\u2019s signature buttery quality.<\/p>\n The release comes at an opportune time for rum\u2014industry publication\u00a0The Spirits Business reports<\/a>\u00a0that \u201crum has shown a certain level of resilience during the pandemic,\u201d noting that sales of the\u00a0cane spirit<\/a>\u00a0actually increased 38 percent between April and June 2020 compared to the same three-month period the previous year. At a little less than $60 a bottle, Equiano falls squarely into rum\u2019s premium segment, which has seen exciting developments in recent years with releases ranging from Nicaragua\u2019s Flor de Ca\u00f1a 25 Year and San Diego\u2019s Cutwater Barrel-Aged Rum to the Bacard\u00ed Group\u2019s Gran Reserva line and the Facundo brand.<\/p>\n \u201cPremium, super-premium; these have always been marketing terms to me,\u201d Ian Burrell asserts. \u201cI always like to flip it and say that any rum can be premium if it\u2019s made at a premium. The unfortunate thing with the rum category is that some [producers] feel that they have to add loads of sugar and spices and flavors to their products to make them more sippable. That doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t amazing spiced rums. But we just wanted to create a rum that was still all-natural, that you could sip by itself, with a couple pieces of ice.\u201d<\/p>\n Burrell is joined on the project by several co-creators, including Foursquare\u2019s Richard Seale, Oli Bartlam, Amanda Kakembo, and Aaisha Dadral, founder of the branding studio\u00a0crave<\/a>. Indeed, Equiano isn\u2019t significant just for its boundary-defying liquid, but also for its message and packaging, which eschew kitsch and reflect the team\u2019s nuanced understanding of cultural representation. In an era where thoughtful branding should be a given\u2014not an afterthought\u2014it\u2019s refreshing to see.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything we do is really quite different from how most people approach not just the rum category, but spirits in general,\u201d Dadral says. \u201c[Equiano] feels different from other rum bottles\u2014we don\u2019t have a paper label, we don\u2019t say we\u2019re tropical, and we don\u2019t have ships and sea beasts on our bottle.\u201d<\/p>\n But Equiano Rum has no need to loudly proclaim its provenance or island bona fides. The story is right there in its name. Born in 1745 in Nigeria, the brand\u2019s namesake, Olaudah Equiano was sold into slavery at just 11 years old\u2014eventually landing in the Caribbean and then the United Kingdom, where he sold rum to save up for his liberation. Traveling the world as a free man and abolitionist, he would later pen\u00a0a highly influential autobiography<\/a>\u00a0as one of the first published African writers in British history.<\/p>\n Olaudah Equiano\u2019s personal history is intertwined with the very origin of rum, which is believed to have been popularized during the British maritime colonial period. Yet, Burrell says, the effects of this colonial past still linger today in the production of sugarcane\u2014and thus rum\u2014in the Caribbean\u2019s former British colonies. During the 1800s, ongoing Anglo-French wars disrupted much of the sugar trade, spelling disaster for local refineries.<\/p>\n \u201cBarbados has always been part of this colonial tug-of-war,\u201d says Burrell, explaining that European politics frequently crippled colonial industries. \u201cJust to put it in perspective, there were 200 sugar refineries in Guyana at the turn of the 19th century; now there are four. In Jamaica, there were nearly 100 or so sugar refineries. Now there are three. There\u2019s only one in Barbados.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet, Equiano Rum is a model for how rum brands can give back and work with distillers who are invested in local communities. Burrell notes that Foursquare, one of the fastest growing spirits companies in the world, has only been able to start growing its own sugarcane because of the brand\u2019s success.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a change. Distilleries and owners in Barbados, and in Jamaica, are starting to grow [sugarcane] again, but it\u2019s slightly different from mezcal or tequila, where you can grow everything in a particular area,\u201d Burrell says. Rum\u2019s commercial success will be integral in reintroducing sugarcane production to the Caribbean. \u201cWe need to sell more rum to go back to growing sugarcane to make more rum to invest back into the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>