Captain's Chronicles

The Bottle Had to Be Right

Bombarda's bottle is a glass cannon - not a motif on a label, but the gun itself. Why the bottle came before the rum was finished, how it is made, and what a bottle is actually for. read chronicle

Thirty-Nine Years of Bottles

For thirty-nine years I brought my father a bottle back from every trip I took. He was a US Navy veteran who lived to be almost 102. There is no clever origin story underneath - there is a man, his son, and a shelf that kept filling up. read chronicle

Why We Don't Use Solera

In Scotch, Cognac and American whiskey, an age statement legally means the youngest spirit in the bottle. Rum has no such rule. What that means for solera-aged rums, and why we do not use the system. read chronicle

The Cannons of Fort Jefferson

Fort Jefferson sits seventy miles west of Key West: sixteen million bricks, a fort superseded before it was finished, and guns that never fired a shot in anger. It is also why every rum we make is named after a cannon. read chronicle

The Day the US Navy Stopped Drinking

On 1 July 1914, General Order 99 banned alcohol aboard every United States Navy vessel. It has never been repealed. Why it happened, and what it has to do with a father, a son and a bottle of rum. read chronicle

Ship of the Line: Our Private Cask Releases

Ship of the Line is our private cask programme - Formidable 18, Sovereign XO 22, Capitana and Maravilla 8. Single-barrel releases named for legendary flagships, each chosen one cask at a time and never repeated. read chronicle

Why Venezuelan Rum Is Rare

Venezuela is one of the few countries in the world with a controlled designation of origin for rum. Why Ron de Venezuela is so highly regarded, so strictly defined, and so rarely seen outside the country. read chronicle

Bombarda's Small Batch Rum Releases known as: "Ship of The Line" are exquisitely crafted!

Captain James's vision was clear from the outset - an annual limited edition rum paying homage to the legendary First Rate ships of the line, and bringing their stories back to life. read chronicle

Bombarda Rum's: Sovereign XO 22 Rum - A Royal Salute!

Launched in 1637, the Sovereign of the Seas defied nations and shaped history. The Dutch called her the Golden Devil - and she is the ship our oldest rum is named for. read chronicle

Bombarda's Clean Rum Revolution !

Most commercial rums carry added sugar, caramel colorant, or both - and almost none of it appears on the label. Here is what that does to the spirit, and why we add nothing. read chronicle

Windjammer Cruise Renaissance - A Journey of Rum, Restoration, and Caribbean Revival

Captain James sets sail for Grenada, where the spirit of the windjammer cruise is being reignited - a story of restoration, rum and Caribbean revival. read chronicle

Bombarda's Capitana Rum Makes Landfall ! An Exquisite, 8 year Dark Panamanian Rum

Exclusively available at Total Wine locations across Florida starting on August 25, 2023, this 8 year-old single-origin Panamanian dark rum has been hand-picked by Total Wine. read chronicle

Unraveling the Enigma of the Capitana El Rubi Galleon

The Capitana El Rubi, flagship of the 1733 Nueva Espana fleet, sailed from Havana on a Friday the 13th. A hurricane drove her onto the reefs of the upper Florida Keys, where she rests today off Plantation Key. read chronicle

A Simple Story of a Father & Son’s Triumphant Bond

How a trip to the Dry Tortugas, and thirty-nine years of bottles carried home and shared with my father, became Bombarda Rum. read chronicle

The Difference Between a Static & Solera Rum Blend

A blend is simple in theory - several rums combined into one. But a static blend and a solera blend mean very different things, and only one of them lets you trust the age on the label. read chronicle

Clear Ice Cannonballs for your cocktail !

The key to clear ice is controlling how the water freezes - directional freezing pushes the air and impurities that cause cloudiness to one end. Here is how to do it at home. read chronicle

The Royal Navy Rum Ration

From 1731 the British Royal Navy issued half a pint of rum a day to every man aboard. Where grog came from, why the ration was watered, and how it ended on Black Tot Day in 1970. read chronicle

Early Colonists Chose Rum as Their Drink of Choice

Rum was the trending spirit of the 1700s. American colonists drank it widely and accepted it as gifts from their politicians - and it shaped early American commerce more than any other drink. read chronicle