The World’s First Premium African Caribbean Rum Reimagines a 400-Year-Old Category
“We wanted to get some conversation flowing. We wanted people to start asking: Why shouldn’t a rum sit side-by-side with a top bourbon, a single malt whiskey, an amazing rye, some really good aged tequila, or Cognac?” Ian Burrell says, with a sense of confidence. “Because that’s what I want people to look at—the rum category. For me, it’s bigger than any one brand. Equiano meant to elevate the whole category.”
Burrell should know a thing or two about this mission: He’s a household name in the spirits industry, founder of the world’s first-ever rum festival (which started way back in 2003), and a multi-award-winning global rum ambassador. And though Equiano only launched in 2020, it’s fair to say Burrell hasn’t just elevated the category—he’s reimagined it entirely in his own image. “My ethnicity here in the United Kingdom is African Caribbean,” he explains. Equiano Rum, as such, is the first African Caribbean rum.