LargeUp TV: Chris Blackwell Talks Rum

Words by Eddie STATS Houghton

A’right. You remember when we told you about that bashy we went to for the New York launch of Blackwell rum? Perhaps not. Things can get a little haze after a few Black & Stormies, so let us recap: Chris Blackwell is the founder of Island Records. He is the man largely responsible for the global careers of Bob Marley, Grace Jones, U2 (and a few other icons). He also maintains a string of the coolest hotels on the planet (which happen to be in Jamaica), including GoldenEye, the former residence of James Bond author Ian Fleming–a family friend. Chris Blackwell is a living legend, that is the takeaway from this paragraph. On to the next:

Chris Blackwell has created his own brand of premium Jamaican rum. To celebrate its New York launch, he had a party at Navy Beach in Montauk, LI and he invited us to it. It was a good party. The best thing about it, though–better than all the free (very good) rum, the vibes (thank you, Max Glazer), maybe  even better than the slightly surreal vision of stunning dancehall queens mixing it up on the sand with Julian Schnabel and Jimmy Buffett (see pic after the jump)–was getting to sit on the beach and chop it up with a legend like Chris Blackwell. We talked about how his family tree got intertwined with the history of rum production in Jamaica, how he found himself in the record biz and then talked some more about rum.  I might have talked a little too much (I like rum). I could probably continue to talk too much, because it’s a good story, but maybe better to let Chris Blackwell tell it:

Chris Blackwell (left), Jimmy Buffett (right) & friends at the Blackwell Rum launch.