THREE of the island’s veterans in the rum industry — R Evon Brown, Robert Henriques and Lloyd Forbes — have been recognised for advancing Jamaica, and the Caribbean’s rum business.

Glowing tributes were paid to the trio for their contribution by the Spirits Pool Association (SPA) Limited at its Christmas luncheon at The Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston, recently.

It came on the heels of a West Indies Rums and Spirits Producers Association (WIRSPA) function, where their more than 130 years of combined service was also highlighted.

Brown served the SPA in the capacity of chairman and vice-chairman for 32 years; Henriques was chairman for 20 years and a director for 32 years, while Forbes served as general manager for 42 years, including several as a director.

“The SPA is unique, by virtue of the fact that its members have voluntarily established the association to serve the collective interest of the industry,” said Clement “Jimmy” Lawrence, chairman of the SPA.

All three have a dearth of experience in the sugar and rum business, with Henriques, among other duties, serving as president of the Sugar Technologists Association, managing director of the sugar factories and distilleries at New Yarmouth and Appleton Estates and working on key projects to transform New Yarmouth and J Wray & Nephew (JWN) Limited.

“Henriques was instrumental in the removal of the wooden fermenters at J Wray & Nephew and the installation of the modernised stainless steel fermenting tanks,” said Lawrence.

“He continued with the implementation of major structural improvements and saw to the modernised pipeline systems for the fermentary. This by no means captures his body of work, but underscores his diverse contributions,” added Lawrence.

Forbes was a master distiller with “a problem solving mind”, and is credited with several innovations locally and internationally, as he worked at JWN Limited and served on the SPA and WIRSPA boards.

Forbes was a master distiller with “a problem solving mind”, and is credited with several innovations locally and internationally, as he worked at JWN Limited and served on the SPA and WIRSPA boards.

While serving as chairman of SPA’s technical committee for more than 25 years, the average conversions of rum increased from 140 “litres absolute alcohol (LAA) per ton of molasses to 280 litres of absolute alcohol (LAA) per ton.

“He was instrumental in crafting Jamaica’s rum standard, which eventually became the Caribbean rum standard, and he was chairman of the Jamaica Rum Standard Committee of the Bureau of Standards,” noted Lawrence.

Forbes configured distilleries to use waste steam, thus reducing operating costs and instituted the refurbishing of old stills in the 1970s and made them work like new to realise significant savings compared with purchasing new ones.

He also solicited Canadian expertise to provide training and substantially boost wine production; instituted rum testing at the port to eliminate losses between the distilleries and wharves and established Rum Mark Standards; and worked with the National Research Conservation Authority through the Scientific Research Council to establish the maximum permissible application rate of Dunder in sugar cane fertigation.

 “As chairman he established all the existing standards for distilled alcohol beverages through these standards we now enjoy,” Lawrence noted.

“The rum standard for Jamaica became the first Caribbean Community (Caricom) standard for rum. He established the maximum distillation for rum, separating rum from alcohol.”

Brown, a former CEO of the Sugar Industry Authority, Sugar Manufacturing Company of Jamaica and National Sugar Company of Jamaica – which controlled eight of the island’s sugar factories – moved into rums as group managing director of National Rums of Jamaica Limited.

His many accolades included the way he championed the cause for promoting rums of Jamaica and the Caribbean in the European market when the French had conspired to prevent re-export, even though permission had been granted under the LOME Agreement in 1975.

Explaining Brown’s lobbying efforts, Lawrence noted that eventually, a 70-million euro European Union (EU) programme was agreed on to assist the Caribbean in adjusting to the new regime in Europe, over four years.

 “The intervention also urged the EU to redefine rum, allowing several products which misrepresented Jamaica’s rum to be withdrawn from the market. This paved the way for a substantial growth in the business,” noted Lawrence.

Brown also led the process to create a Caribbean Rum Mark, as well as the fight against subsidisation of rum from Caribbean territories of the United States in a programme known as Rum Cover Over.

“I wish to again implore these three gentlemen to commit their experience and accomplishments to the written word – a book each,” Lawrence urged. “Too much of our rich history is lost on account of the absence of records,” added Lawrence.