Fortress of Louisbourg launches new rum

Glasses will be raised today at the Fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Breton to toast the launch of Fortress Rum.

Parks Canada and Authentic Seacoast Distilling Company Ltd. in Guysborough have teamed up to create the new rum.

It's distilled in the Caribbean and was brought to the Fortress in September to age in oak barrels, 18th century style.

Glynn Williams, the president of Authentic Seacoast Distilling, said aging the rum at the national historic site will impart a unique character to the spirits.

"We kind of dreamed up this idea of maturing our rum at the fortress behind the massive stone walls of the Magazin du Roi, and because the fortress is just such an interesting place and it's got great weather," Williams said.

"We thought that the rum, as it matures there, will develop its own unique character, unique to Cape Breton and folks would be quite interested in a product with that type of character."

Lester Marchand, the visitor experience manager at the fortress, said storing and selling the rum at Louisbourg is another way to connect with visitors.

"Rum was a very important part of life in the 18th century for all kinds of reasons — for trading, for commerce, but also I'm sure for making life a little bit easier at times," Marchand said.

"Providing different kinds of experience for visitors to get a little bit of the story of why Louisbourg is so important in the story of Canada is very important for us."

Williams said he worked closely with fortress staff to create the final product.

"In terms of the research, we spent quite a bit of time with Lester and his team at Parks Canada and the curatorial staff looking at the information in the collection in terms of bottles, in terms of the design, how bottles were sealed back 300 years ago."

Williams said they tried to make the rum, which is 45 per cent alcohol, taste authentic to the period when it would have been enjoyed by soldiers and the upper classes alike.

"It's a well balanced, well structured rum, you'll taste some vanilla, you'll taste some fruit and the fruit is fig-like. There's some caramel and there's some spice and some of that comes from the type of oak that's used in the maturation process," Williams said.

"We hope that over the next five, 10, 20 years that we'll be pulling rum from the fortress and replenishing it for many years. And so the character of the rum will change and it will be more and more Fortress Louisbourg."

Fortress Rum will be available at Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation outlets and on site at the fortress.