FYSA Dominica and Grand Bay

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aih
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Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:00 am
Location: Florida Panhandle

FYSA Dominica and Grand Bay

Post by aih »

I emailed California-Antilles Trading to ask about the future of Dominica Bay Rum, with between-the-lines intent of expressing my desire to use it again one day when it returns. There was a response! The news is that (according to the message I received) the Grand Bay they have is all there is and when it is gone it will be a long while before they can import more Bay Rum from Dominica. I went to West Coast Shaving to make an order and it is out of stock there. Checked Amazon, no result. So, I made a big order at California-Antilles.

Now I'm curious about the Bay trees, how long it will take to recover and have producing trees..... Will the industry recover?..... I recall way back when the exceptionally rare hard freeze in the 80's in Florida wiped out the citrus in Central Florida surrounding the Orlando area. This freeze didn't just destroy the crop for that year, it killed the trees. Before that, you could drive down the Florida Turnpike over hills and see nothing but orange trees. Not now. Citrus in that area didn't recover.
- Ira
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aih
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Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:00 am
Location: Florida Panhandle

Re: FYSA Dominica and Grand Bay

Post by aih »

More FYSA...

Anyone else ordered from California-Antilles Trading? This was first for me. I never received a shipping notice and I was beginning to get worried. But then order was delivered, and the bottles were packed very well. I was pleased.

(And by the by, putting the bottles away in the cabinet I looked and found I have one bottle of Dominica left. It's a 10 oz bottle, too. I guess I'll go ahead and open it in about a week or two by which time I'll probably finish the current open bottle of Grand Bay. Can't enjoy it sitting in the back of the cabinet. It will be a pleasure, but I'll be sad that it's my last.)
- Ira
EL Alamein
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Re: FYSA Dominica and Grand Bay

Post by EL Alamein »

Some while back I talked to the owner at Cantilles and he is a nice person.

I got a similar story from him but the twist was that the producers of Dominica are re-tooling/upgrading/whatever their manufacturing facility. The hurricanes have set them back but eventually Dominica will be back in production, but who knows when.

As for the Grand Bay rum he said it was their proprietary blend and it ain't the same as Dominica. I don't know who produces it for them but he did not indicate that it would be a problem to keep getting their blend.

He had said there are literally many proprietary variations of bay rum made and sold down there so my guess is that there are probably a few places that make it, none probably as big as Dominica but since the Grand Bay version doesn't have near the following as Dominica it's probably not a problem to keep up with the demand. Who knows though?

Chris
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aih
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Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:00 am
Location: Florida Panhandle

Re: FYSA Dominica and Grand Bay

Post by aih »

@El Alamein Thanks. I've thought the same, that there must be multiple manufacturers of this general type of Bay Rum. I do wonder now that you mention it, just how proprietary it can be (what could be secret?) given the ingredients of both Dominica and Grand Bay are simply Bay tree oil and alcohol. (Or am I wrong about that?) Still, I do agree Grand Bay is not exactly the same as Dominica, so there would seem to be a difference(s) in the manufacture methods or raw materials somewhere.

I'm happy to see someone else interested. Fingers crossed we will see this type of Bay Rum on the market again someday soon.
- Ira
EL Alamein
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Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:55 pm

Re: FYSA Dominica and Grand Bay

Post by EL Alamein »

Ira,

Yeah, there's not a whole lot that goes into Bay Rum from what I read but there seem to be differences if ever so slight.

Truth be told, I really like the Grand Bay now that I've tried it. It's very close to Dominica but, dare I say it, better? It *seems* to have more bay oils in it and I really enjoy it. I will probably stick with it even when Dominica comes back on line.

I still miss the old Dominica cork bottles of old though and I just keep refilling my old bottle because it is just so convenient to use.

Chris
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aih
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Location: Florida Panhandle

Re: FYSA Dominica and Grand Bay

Post by aih »

Grand Bay bottles were coming with cork stoppers when I first bought it. And that wasn't really that long ago, when West Coast started carrying it. But now, or course, plastic caps.

I'll jump on Dominca if and when it returns. But now that I'm aware of the possibility of many others similar to Dominca and Grand Bay, I wish I could try them all.
- Ira
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