Distillation

How does Foursquare distill its rum? Using two different setups on the same site: two copper double-retort pot stills and a two-column Coffey still. Both deliver distillates that are later blended together. Having two fundamentally different technical worlds under one roof is what makes the house distinctive.

The pot still is a still that fills only one kettle at a time. The vapor rises, condenses, and delivers a robust, aroma-rich distillate. With a double retort, two additional vessels, the retorts, sit behind the kettle. This makes the spirit stronger in a single pass without losing aroma.

The Coffey still, also called a patent still, runs continuously. The mash flows in, steam rises through columns, and the alcohol is extracted in stages. The distillate is purer and lighter and carries less inherent character, which is why column-still rum tastes more elegant but less distinctive.

Richard Seale blends the distillery's rums from these two distillates. The pot-still portion provides body and spice, the column portion provides smoothness. Under the Foursquare brand come the bottlings of the Exceptional Cask Selection series, alongside Doorly's, R.L. Seale's, Old Brigand and the unaged white E.S.A. Field.

Blending is an art of its own, in which the blender decides how much pot and how much column goes into each cask, and every batch tastes individual. Foursquare doesn't disclose the exact blending ratios it uses, so for buyers what matters first is that both components are made at the same site.