St John Bay Rum

As a baby boomer I remember well going to the barber shop in my youth and the barber splashing and then rubbing a delicious smelling liquid over my face after a haircut. I clearly remember the bottle, tall and lean, coloured red and black with stripes up and down its length and boldly declaring in black letters, Bay Rum. Little did I know then that some fifty years later I would visit the home of Bay Rum.

Just recently on island I was offered a broad green leaf and told to crush it in my fingers and smell. I did so and the memories of my childhood barbershop encounters came flooding back. Bay Rum!

I had happened upon the place that according to the Encyclopedia Britannica “the word St John on Bay Rum is like ‘sterling' on silverware. It stands for best in the world.  This superiority is due to the special quality of the leaves of the Bay Trees, which grow on the island of St John.” Certainly an unqualified stamp of approval from the Britannica.

Bay Rum is made using oil extracted from the leaves of the West Indian bay tree, Pinenta Racemosa. Here on St. John the tree itself is called bay rum and it grows all over the island except on the East End and the in dry southwest corner. Especially prolific stands can be found on Bordeaux Mountain and in the Cinnamon Bay Valley.

                                                      West Indian Bay Tree

After the decline of the sugar industry on St John some of the plantations switched to producing Bay Rum. Harvesting was labour intensive and much of the work was done by children who climbed the trees to lop of small branches that contained the bay leaves.

The industry met with some success but the death knell was delivered with the introduction of prohibition in 1921 when government regulations mandated that alicyclic acid be added to Bay Rum so it couldn’t be consumed as an alcoholic beverage.

 St Johns Bay Rum fragrances are now produced on St Thomas and are famous for the distinctive palm woven bottles.