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All a sailor needs is New England Distilling Eight Bells Rum and a star to steer by.

The folks at trace their spirited roots back more than 150 years. Ned Wright—great-great-great-great something of cousin or grandkid or other to the founder of Sherwood Distilling back in the day. But all that doesn’t mean a thing if it ain’t got a swing … meaning that history is useless unless you make something great with it.

Ned is doing his family proud form a direct-heat, small-batch copper-pot still located so far East that it’s almost in Europe (actually, Portland Maine). Today, New England Distilling produces three-banded spirits: Ingenium Gin, Eight Bells Rum, and Gunpowder Rye. All of them have won awards and each one is worth the price of admission.


If you look carefully at the label of New England Distilling Eight Bells Rum you can see an image of a rain-slicked sailor who is using a sextant to dead-recon the ship's position. That is a painting by a famous American artist—Winslow Homer, a New England native—that is named “Eight Bells” and refers to the scheduled time a day’s navigation measurements were done.

We love it when small-batch distillers twist in these little hidden Easter Eggs for us to find. Eight Bells Rum is more than a lesson in Rum-soaked maritime history, it is a solid, award-winning example of Rum-making. It starts with perfectly fermented Caribbean molasses. Then it’s distilled in their custom direct-fire, copper-pot still and aged a minimum of 2 years in ex-Bourbon casks.

The bells you hear ringing right now are the “buy” signal. All a sailor needs is this Rum and a star to steer by.

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