Benjamin Boothe is British born of Jamaican and Guyanese descent (Currently based in the Netherlands), with a strong connection to Guyana’s rum producing history. His great Grandfather was the head distiller at Blairmont Estate and his great-great Grandfather was head distiller at Albion Estate in the Early 20^th Century. Educated in Philosophy and Economics at the London School of Economics, he spent many years working in the Financial Sector before founding the Levy Lane Rum Company in 2017 and launching his flagship brand, Tamosi Rum, in 2020. A brand that aims to put a spotlight on the thousands of years of pre-Columbian Caribbean history and culture via the medium of some the finest single barrel and blended rums he can find.

The name Tamosi comes from the Carib language, Tamosi Kabotano: Ancient one of the Skyland, a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth in the Carib cosmovision. The concept for Tamosi Rum was born in 2017 with the first bottling being released in 2020. The mission was simple, to explore the history of the pre-colonial Caribbean using rum as the medium. Contrary to much of rum branding which still chooses to amplify the legacies of Caribbean colonists and the infrastructure that supported them, he chose to celebrate the thousands of years of the region’s history before European arrival and the legacies of the Caribbeans original inhabitants. This is important, not only, because little of this storied past is widely known but also but because the continued focus on colonial narratives serves to minimise the histories of the regions many other communities, thereby perpetuating the cultural damage started during colonial rule.  Story telling is the main vehicle for his journey, with most bottlings to date featuring genuine stories from indigenous nations of the circum-Caribbean region. Story telling was one of the key mediums with which histories and vital information was passed down through generations and provides a truer and more direct sense of cultural history than most modern historical or anthropological references can provide.

The focus is on bottling exceptional single barrels and the highest quality blends. The rums are selected to highlight what he finds most interesting about a vintage, marque or distillery whilst always trying to provide his fans with new and unusual profiles to keep them excited and moving along their rum journeys. They bottle without any additives and choose bottling strengths that best suit the particular rum.  All single barrels are bottled and labelled by hand.

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