Our Story
Here's How it all began...
What started off as a simple family competition in 2018, evolved into being the designated bartenders for every family function, and the constant tinkering of recipes in our very own kitchen every week.
Through hard work and lots of research, we eventually developed over 40+ signature flavor combinations, all with the same base ingredients: dark & gold rums, flavored liqueur, bitters and fresh fruit juices. An instant hit had arrived, and suddenly our kitchen had turned into a makeshift bar: filled with friends volunteering as taste-testers for the newest Swizzle recipe we had managed to come up with on the spot.
This soon led to strangers seeking us out thanks to the whispers and rumors, in an attempt to procure these signature flavors for themselves; the race to bottle and sell these craft cocktails quickly followed thereafter...
For us, this isn't just about making good drinks however, this is an opportunity to share a piece of our family with you and also tell some of Bermuda's best stories. Every aspect of creating and bottling these cocktails has been made with careful consideration, an eye for craftsmanship, an ode to artistry and above all else, LOVE.
So, why "1616" you might ask? Too often we felt that Bermudians celebrate the year 1609, without realizing it has limited significance to our ancesteral history. Recently however, we have begun to see how important it is to look back in history and amplify our ancestors and their stories.
As a result of this, the year 1616 stood out to us because that was the year that the first enslaved Africans and Native Americans arrived to the shores of Bermuda. It is because of their arrival, their preserverance, and their traditions that we are here, and our very existence is now permanent homage to them and all of the ancestors that followed thereafter... We are, because they WERE.