It began with a glass
of rum punch.

How it started

Before Notting Hill Carnival, a batch of rum punch was made at home. The one it had been made to for years, the way it’s made in Dominica. Word got round. People started asking for bottles.

One taste and the reaction was simple: I’d buy this.

That became this. The recipe hasn’t changed; it is just made in batches now rather than by the jug.

The island

Dominica calls itself the Nature Island and earns it. It is mountains before it is beaches: rainforest to the ridgelines, rivers in every valley, a boiling lake, hot springs by the road. It is not the Caribbean of swim-up bars. It is quieter and greener than that, and the food and drink are the same, built on what grows there.

The river

In the north, near Portsmouth, the Indian River winds inland under a roof of mangrove and bloodwood. You go up it in a rowing boat, no engine, the water still and dark, roots on either side. That is the scene on our label. It is also the corner of the island this recipe comes from.

The punch

The rum punch most people know is a jug drink: juice-led, sweet, easy. The one poured at home in Dominica is different. Dark rum first, lime for lift, a dash of bitters, fresh nutmeg grated over the top. It is a drink to sit with rather than get through. Gouté Balvin is that punch, made consistent enough to bottle.

The name

Gouté is the word you hear when someone hands you a glass. Kwéyòl for “taste it”. Balvin is the personal half of the name: a home word, a family word, and the reason this bottle exists.

“I’d buy this.”
The first thing anyone said about it

Where it’s made

The inspiration is Dominican. The making is British. Gouté Balvin is made in the United Kingdom, in small batches, from a recipe that came from the island.

We say this plainly because the picture on the label could suggest otherwise, and we would rather you knew.