This summer, 12 international journalists arrived in Jamaica with an unusual assignment: Drink rum, listen to music, eat extraordinarily well, and follow a story that began here more than half-a-century ago. They came for Crossfire Hurricane, the Jamaican rum created in celebration of the Rolling Stones’ relationship with the island. What they found, and subsequently told the world, was a much bigger story about Jamaica.

Visiting journalists at Zionites Farm, Stush in the BushMatthew Hann

As the brand’s Jamaica-based consultants, our decision was clear. If journalists were flying here to understand Crossfire Hurricane, we would give them more than a bottle. We wanted them to understand why the rum had to be Jamaican. As summer draws to a close, their stories have appeared in Rolling Stone Germany, The Independent, Time Out, Clash, Wonderland and Maxim. Whilst each writer found a different angle, one protagonist kept appearing beside the rum and The Rolling Stones: Jamaica!

Rum consultant Christelle Harris and Stush in the Bush co-principal Chris BinnsMatthew Hann

St Ann Had to Be Home

Kingston would have been easier. The Stones came here in 1972 to record Goats Head Soup at Dynamic Sounds, beginning a relationship with Jamaica that would stretch across decades. For Keith Richards especially, that relationship became personal. He established a home in the hills above Ocho Rios, where his friendship with the Rastafarian musicians of nearby Steer Town grew through years of reasoning, drumming and recording. Those relationships eventually produced the Wingless Angels recordings. Decades later, some of those same musicians would become part of the story we were bringing the journalists to St Ann to experience. Grammy-winning record producer Wayne Jobson recalls Richards describing their hypnotic Nyabinghi sound as “marrow music” — music you feel in your bones.

Host extraordinaire Lisa Binns on the floor. (Photo: Matthew Hann)

That history meant this couldn’t simply be a Jamaican rum trip. A meaningful part of the story belonged specifically to St Ann.

Jamaica Inn: More Than a Hotel

If St Ann had to be home, we needed the right home base, and Jamaica Inn was a natural fit. Opened in 1950, its private beach, discreet service and refusal of unnecessary spectacle have preserved something increasingly rare in luxury hospitality: Personality. For four days, it housed our journalists, the Crossfire Hurricane team and Global Rum Ambassador Ian Burrell. More importantly, it gave the experience a setting that felt connected to the story we were telling.

On the final evening, at a long table by the sea, Herbie Miller of the Jamaica Music Museum spoke about rum’s complicated history, including the people who cut the cane and drank the roughest part of what they produced while the refined spirit created wealth elsewhere. Then Eric Donaldson, whose
Cherry Oh Baby the Rolling Stones covered in 1976, stood and sang it unaccompanied. It was unpretentious, intimate and incredibly memorable. There was mannish water on the table, served alongside traditional elevated dishes, Crossfire Hurricane in the glasses and the Caribbean Sea a few feet away.

This was Jamaica!

Vegan heaven at Stush in the Bush! (Photo: Matthew Hann)

A Jamaican Story Travelling Outward

What the journalists chose to write about matters more than the coverage itself. They wrote about Jamaica Inn, Stush in the Bush, Miss T’s Kitchen and Worthy Park. They wrote about Eric Donaldson, the Wingless Angels, Jamaican food, music, history and rum. Jamaica’s opportunity is considerably bigger than selling another bottle of rum or another hotel room. The value lies in connecting the rum to the people who make it, a hotel to the history surrounding it, a meal to the land it came from and a song to the community that created it.

That is where our work meets: At the intersection of spirits, hospitality, brands and culture. After all, the best Jamaican brand-building happens when Jamaica becomes the story.

Stush in the Bush co-principal Chris Binns enjoys the fragrance of the shampoo ginger lily (Photo: Matthew Hann)

Stush in the Bush co-principal Lisa Binns plates food. (Photo: Matthew Hann)

Tasting passionfruit (Photo: Matthew Hann)

Crossfire Hurricane Rum Gold & Reserve at Jamaica Inn (Photo: Matthew Hann)