They normally work at night but 50 bartenders were up at 9 this morning
to attend a seminar. But today’s seminar wasn’t held in the conference
room at a hotel. These bartenders spent the day at the Traveller’s Distillery
on the Northern Highway where they got a firsthand experience of rum making
and mixing. Here’s more.
Keith Swift Reporting,
The bartenders were given the grand tour of the entire Traveller’s Operation
– where the rum is made and bottled, the impressive barrel room where
the rum is fermented for between 2 to 10 years, the lab where it is tested for
toxins, and of course the tour wouldn’t be complete without a taste test.
Perla Perdomo, Traveller’s Limited
“The seminar has been ongoing for almost every Wednesday during the
summer, during the off season, the reason for it is to create awareness among
our bartenders in all of Belize. It is create awareness about all of the products
that Traveller’s has to offer, what they can do with it in their blends,
let them know about the history of Traveller’s and about tradition that
we have here in rum making. They get to see the inside of Traveller’s,
inside out. Right now we are in the barrel room but they visit two of our labs,
one is the testing lab and the other is the tasting lab, they also visit the
bottling facility and they get to speak to our master blender from Traveller’s
for over 20 years. They get one on one conversations with all the employees
at Traveller’s so they are aware of what it takes to make a quality product.”
Manager Perla Perdomo says bartenders play a key role in their operations.
Perla Perdomo,
“They are the most important people for us because those are the people
that are pouring the drinks and especially at a time like this when the tourist
season will be opening up and you will have people coming to Belize that don’t
really know about the different products that are available and so the person
they ask about these things would be the bartender. They go to the bartenders
to say well what is the best rum you have or what kind of drink is a signature
drink of Belize and that sort of thing and they depend on the bartender to give
them information. We feel that sharing our tradition and history with the bartenders
gives them more to talk about to the tourists.”
The seminar was held all summer long. It was free of cost to the participants
and each left with a certificate.
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