Trinidad and Angostura

High above one of the smaller Aging Bodegas

   Today is a beautiful day here in Trinidad, weather and the day is going according to plan.    Angostura is the spot we are going to visit today.   I'd like to say a special thanks to the people at Angostura for one of the nicest tours that I have ever been on.   The Museum, Distillery, and the Bitters area are all very impressive.   Angostura not only produces rum for their own brands, bur provide a large amount of aged rum to other rum companies.   Angostura reputation is built on on the quality of their aged rums.

Robert Wong and Vidia Persad - Doodnath

     Today really brought to the forefront what kind of quality rums that the master distiller and the master blender can bring together with all of their talent and the fine quality equipment that they have to work with.   In the tasting room with Robert Wong Chief Executive Officer and CEO and Vidia Persad-Doodnath Executive Director - Technical Operations we were given to opportunity to sample some of the staple rums of Angostura and off out opinions of some new blends on the horizon.    A couple of which were very appealing.    It was an honor to have Robert Wong take the time to visit with us during this portion of the tour.

     Into the Distillery we went to look at the Impressive equipment of a truly modern distillery.   The still towers some 80 or 90 feet above the facility arE among the most impressive that I have ever seen.  They have a totally modern facility from the fabulous still to the semi automatic barrel filling station, this is an absolutely impressive facility.  

     This evening I am sitting with Carlton Grooms in the hotel room enjoying a Bottle of Angostura Single Barrel
 and relaxing after a long day before heading to Venezuela at 5:00 am in the morning.   I wish that I had more time to experience more of Trinidad, but that is how things go.  By the way, Angostura Single Barrel is a very fine rum, unfortunately it is on that is not going to be placed on the international market any time soon.   If you are in some of the Caribbean Duty Free shops at any time soon. this is a rum you might want to consider.   ;o) 

Oh the FUN of Traveling

     Oh the joys of travel.   I caught a 6:20am flight from Key West to Miami; it was a great flight with a beautiful sunrise.    Then I got to Miami where if it could go wrong it has.   First I sat in the wrong gate area, and almost missed my boarding, but I did make it aboard.   Sat down in my seat and got myself nested in the “personal area” and started doing a Sudoku.  Two completed Sudoku’s later comes the first delay announcement.   “It will be about 30 minutes and we will be underway”   45 minutes later we are deplaning with “all of our personal belongs” we are back in the terminal waiting for the next announcement.   Yeah we have a new gate and we are boarding at 1:30 pm.  It is now 2:15 and they say we are boarding at 2:30, I wonder when we will be told that the flight has been cancelled and we will be staying in Miami for the night?

     This too will hopefully pass and I’ll be in beautiful Trinidad before the night is over and I get to try tomorrow to get there.    I see the pilot on the phone, and he doesn’t look as though he is jumping for joy.   Could it be another announcement is in the works?   The passengers are getting more and more restless as another projected time passes and we are still in the terminal.   I wish I had a nice top shelf rum with a couple of cubes of ice, but I really don’t need to be drinking before heading up to altitude.   Let’s see what they are going to announce this time.   Ok now they are calling for a 3:00 pm departure, I wonder what the odds makers in     Vegas are saying about this prediction.   I have to keep up the comic way of looking at the whole thing, or else I might start to become upset by it all.   I was supposed to have been in Trinidad an hour ago, and I’m still in the terminal in Miami.   They have just decided that the problem is a major one and the plane will require major work and will not be able to fly today.   This is what they told us at 11:00 am when we gathered our belongings to deplaned.   I guess they could not find a working plane her in the hub at Miami.  

     Now I am waiting for the next announcement, this is beginning to remind me of an old tv serial  where you have to wait until next week to find out what happens next.     The new announcement has us headed to another gate where they say there is a third plane that will be able to take us to Trinidad.   Well we have been on the plane again for about 45 minutes and they have decided the plane is over weight because they put the wrong amount of fuel on board and some of it needs to be drained off.

     We are airborne finally 8 hours later than scheduled, but we are finally heading in the right direction.  11:30 and I'm at the hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad.   Say Good Night Bob.

Good Morning Trinidad!!   ;o)