Chairman's Reserve is the rum that put Saint Lucia on the map, and it's still one of the most underpriced ranges in the Caribbean. St. Lucia Distillers is the island's only distillery, it runs four stills, and the Chairman's line is where it shows what they can do: pot-still funk and column polish in the same bottle, aged in the tropics, from $29. This guide covers the distillery, every Chairman's Reserve we have in stock, and which to buy.
Shop all Chairman's Reserve in stock
About Chairman's Reserve
Denis Barnard founded the distillery in the Roseau valley in 1931. His son Laurie Barnard, as chairman in the 1990s, added pot stills to what had been a column-still operation and in 1999 created a blend under his own title, Chairman's Reserve, that made English-style rum from a small island a global reference. He died in 2012, and his portrait is on the Legacy label. The distillery now runs a Coffey column still and two pot stills, the John Dore and the Vendome, and most Chairman's bottlings blend rum from all of them, aged separately in ex-bourbon barrels and married.
The house style sits between Barbados and Jamaica: more pot-still character and funk than a Bajan rum, more polish than a Jamaican one. Cooked banana, dried fruit, tobacco, and honey are the recurring notes across the range.
Chairman's Reserve in Stock at Chips Liquor
Chairman's Reserve Original ($28.99)
The 1999 blend: Coffey column and John Dore and Vendome pot-still rums aged around five years in ex-bourbon barrels, bottled at 40% ABV. The Lone Caner named it a Key Rum of the World, affordable, findable anywhere, and the one the whole range descends from. Drinkhacker found burnt match, cooked fruit, and coconut husk on the nose, then green banana and apricot. For a Rum Old Fashioned, a Mai Tai, or neat, it's Saint Lucia's benchmark.
Chairman's Reserve Legacy ($39.99)
Released in 2020 to honor Laurie Barnard, and the best value in the range. A larger share of pot-still rum than the Original plus a touch of estate cane-juice rum, aged five to seven and a half years, bottled at 43%. Paste called it impossible not to be impressed by, with many of the same notes as the 1931 at a fraction of the price, and said it was the one they'd be looking for in the store. Cooked banana, tobacco, savory funk, and a green edge from the cane. If you buy one Chairman's, buy this.
Chairman's Reserve The Forgotten Casks ($47.99)
On May 2, 2007, a fire swept the distillery. Casks of Chairman's Reserve were moved out of harm's way and forgotten, and when they were found the rum had aged past the Original recipe, so it was released on its own. It's now a permanent bottling: the Original blend given roughly three extra years in ex-bourbon oak after marrying, for a blend of rums roughly six to eleven years old at 40% ABV. Sweet raisins, cigar tobacco, honey, and vanilla, with the Original's banana funk softened into dried fruit and toffee. The elegant one.
Chairman's Reserve 1931 ($109.99)
Released in 2011 for the distillery's eightieth anniversary and built from fourteen different rums: all four stills, mostly molasses-based with a small share of agricole-style rum from estate cane, aged six to fifteen years in ex-bourbon barrels and ex-port pipes, bottled at 46%. Dried fruit, cigar tobacco, honey, and port-cask red fruit, with a very long finish. Paste was very impressed; one RumRatings reviewer drove 1,300 miles round trip for two bottles. Legacy delivers much of this for a third of the price, but 1931 is the one for the shelf.
Chairman's Reserve Spiced ($31.99)
The rare spiced rum built on a serious base: the Original blend infused with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, vanilla, allspice, orange peel, and bois bandé, the bark of a local tree Saint Lucians use in folk tonics. 40% ABV. Because the base is real Chairman's, the rum still shows under the spice, and it's one of the few spiced rums enthusiasts respect. For spiced rum and ginger beer, a Painkiller, or hot buttered rum.
Which Chairman's Reserve to Buy
- Mixing: Original.
- Best value, and best overall: Legacy.
- Smooth sipper: The Forgotten Casks.
- Special occasion: 1931.
- Winter drinks: Spiced.
Our Chips Liquor and Rum Curious private cask (John Dore 2 pot still and Coffey, distilled 2009) has sold out.
Shipping Chairman's Reserve From Chips Liquor
Every bottle above is in stock at our Pacific Beach shop in San Diego and ships fast to most states. For the neighbors, read our guides to Foursquare and Worthy Park, or browse the full rum collection.