A New Way to Experience the Caribbean, One Rum Bar at a Time

A group of friends enter Dunn’s Rum Club at Sandals Dunn’s River for a drink, maybe two. They’d like something special, an “only here” experience in a glass, and they’ve come to the right place. More than 30 rums sit on display behind the bartender. He and many of these rums were born and raised in Jamaica, and together they’re about to take these friends on a journey even if they never leave their seats.

There are sweet rums, charred rums and spicy rums, poised to be served in flights or perhaps in a powerful punch. Classic reggae fills the air. A group of couples play dominoes nearby. The bartender guides the conversation from rum’s medicinal uses to cask strengths, and finally to the secrets in the Painkiller now on the table.

“Think of a piña colada with a little orange juice. We shake it to give it a froth. And let’s shave some fresh nutmeg on top. Notice the aroma?”

The drink is different and deliciously Jamaican.

Maybe it’s because of the rum or the recipe. It could be the setting or the people making drinks and sharing expertise gleaned not from books but from life. In the rum club, Sandals guests do not feel like guests. Here, they are pulled into the region’s DNA.

A plate of braised oxtail sliders on coco bread is served, pulling them deeper.

And what began with Dunn’s Rum Club is becoming something much bigger.

A New Generation of Rum Clubs

The immersive rum experience is expanding to three more Sandals destinations in Jamaica: B-Side Rum Bar at Sandals South Coast, Keynote Rum Bar at Sandals Caribbean Cay, formerly Sandals Royal Caribbean, and Bay Roc Rum Bar at Sandals’ adults-only flagship resort in Montego Bay — fittingly, the birthplace of the Caribbean’s first-ever swim-up bar.

But these aren’t replicas of Dunn’s Rum Club. In fact, no two Sandals rum clubs are intended to be alike.

“Each rum bar has its own identity,” says Sandals Director of Product Development for Food and Beverage Michael Martensen. “One will be like entering a Jamaican home. One will have a lounge vibe (think James Bond), shake and stir, dark lit. And the third will be more of a Jamaican dance hall. Guests can experience each region of Jamaica by just coming in.”

That distinction is at the heart of Sandals’ growing rum club collection. Each bar uses rum as a starting point to tell a larger story about its destination, through the bottles behind the bar, the cocktails in the glass, the food on the table, the music in the room and the people bringing it all to life.

The result is a new way to experience Jamaica, where moving from one rum club to another reveals a different side of the island.

Why Rum, Why Here?

“The Caribbean is the heartbeat of rum culture,” Martensen says. “That’s why rum is best experienced here.”

Rum has long been woven into the Caribbean experience. At Sandals, a cold, colorful rum drink has accompanied generations of arrivals alongside sunshine, smiles, the Caribbean Sea and two heartfelt words: “Welcome home.” It’s the same kind of greeting offered at doorsteps throughout the communities Sandals represents.

But rum is also uniquely capable of telling the story of where it comes from. Its flavor begins with sugarcane and evolves through distilling and creative aging methods that can produce dramatically different expressions from island to island and even region to region.

“Rum has fewer rules compared to the whiskey world,” Martensen says. “A master rum distiller can use a sherry barrel from Spain or a bourbon barrel from Kentucky. He can use any technique to acquire any taste he wants. In that same spirit, we can do a lot with rum at Sandals, too.”

What exactly can you do with rum, besides pour it?

That question helped inspire Dunn’s Rum Club, which opened at Sandals Dunn’s River in 2023. The idea was to elevate the rum experience while grounding it in rum heritage, using generational knowledge, inviting guests into the stories and creating a place where everyone could enjoy rum the way it’s enjoyed locally — with a splash of sophistication drenched in fun, or vice versa.

“It proved there’s no better way to experience different parts of the Caribbean, even different regions of the same island, than through rum,” says Martensen.

Where the Journey Began

Dunn’s Rum Club opened a new door for travelers led by taste and curiosity. Here, the bartender isn't simply pouring the drink. He becomes a guide.

Dark rum, aged rum, spiced rum and overproof rum each come with a story. Bartenders can explain the local process from harvest to barrel to bottle, suggest which varieties are best sipped neat, shaken or stirred, and identify which rum belongs in the frozen mojito currently in mid-blend.

The experience can become even more immersive.

“Guests can do sensory experiments, where you smell an orange peel and taste a certain rum, then smell vanilla before tasting another rum,” Martensen says. “We want you to come away with a clear sense of place and an understanding of the people.”

The concept traveled beyond Jamaica with Three Jewels Rum Bar at Sandals St. Vincent — but the experience changed with the destination.

Guests at Three Jewels can sample French-style rums from Martinique, fruit-nuanced rums from St. Lucia, rums from some of the Caribbean’s oldest distilleries in Barbados, or rare craft rums from the rolling hills of the Grenadines, where rum has long played a role in the region’s economy.

“The key for us is to create a sensation specific to the region,” Martensen says.

At Three Jewels, vinyl records set the mood. The architecture reflects St. Vincent. Saltfish bakes connect guests to the ocean and to Vincy kitchens.

It's the same philosophy that now guides the next generation of Sandals rum clubs: start with rum, but let the destination tell the story.

Follow the Rum Beyond the Resort

The rum experience doesn’t have to end at the bar. Guests looking to explore beyond the resort can head off property with Island Routes on excursions that bring them closer to the places, people and traditions behind the Caribbean’s most celebrated rums.

In Jamaica, the journey pairs a refreshing dip in the natural pools at YS Falls with a visit to Appleton Estate, where guests can get a firsthand look at the island’s storied rum-making tradition. From Sandals St. Vincent, guests can take a scenic coastal ride to St. Vincent Distillery to discover what makes the region’s rum distinct. And in St. Lucia, an Island Routes excursion brings together two of the Caribbean’s most indulgent flavors: rum and chocolate.

These off-property experiences take the stories introduced inside Sandals’ rum clubs and follow them to their source, connecting what’s poured into the glass with the landscapes, traditions and people behind it.

Together, the experiences on and off resort offer guests another way to discover the Caribbean through rum.

Friends might walk into Dunn’s Rum Club looking for a drink. At B-Side, Keynote or Bay Roc Rum Bar, they might be drawn in by an entirely different atmosphere. But each experience starts from the same idea: rum can be more than something enjoyed on vacation. It can be a way into the destination itself.

One region. Different islands. Distinct personalities and stories. Experienced one rum bar at a time.