Gosling's
Gosling's
The story of Gosling's begins in the spring of 1806, when James Gosling set out from Britain with £10,000 worth of merchandise, bound for the young United States – the crossing did not go as planned, however, and after 91 days on becalmed seas the voyage ended not in America but prematurely in Bermuda, where he opened a shop in St. George's a few months later. By 1824 James had returned to England and his brother Ambrose rented a shop on Front Street in the new capital of Hamilton for £25 a year. In 1857 the firm, known as Ambrose Gosling and Son, was renamed Gosling Brothers. At this time a saying became popular in Bermuda: «The three things a true Bermudian needs are to attend Trinity Church, read the Royal Gazette and buy his rum from Gosling's.»
Three years after the renaming, the thriving family business imported its first barrels of rum distillate to Bermuda and blended them into its own rum, simply called «Old Rum» and sold directly from the barrel – customers were required to bring their own bottles for filling. After numerous experiments in the blending process, the distinctive black rum now known as Black Seal was formulated and offered for sale. The closely guarded recipe, passed down through more than four generations, makes Black Seal Rum one of the most famous and unmistakable dark rums in the world and the indispensable foundation of the legendary Dark 'n' Stormy cocktail – the only cocktail in the world that is trademarked and legally required to be made exclusively with Gosling's Black Seal Rum.
The Gosling's range encompasses alongside the flagship Black Seal Rum the Gosling's Gold Rum as well as the superb Gosling's Family Reserve Rum, still bottled to this day in a black champagne bottle and counted among the finest dark rums in the world. The company is currently led in the seventh generation by Nancy Lloyd Gosling and is the largest exporter in Bermuda, selling blended rum around the world. As a family business of over 200 years that expresses the tropical island soul of Bermuda in every single blend, Gosling's stands today as a living and unmistakable symbol of tradition, craftsmanship and the distinctive Caribbean spirit of an island that has made the world of rum its own in a thoroughly unique and unforgettable way.