“Never had I seen a land so beautiful; now I knew where the writers of the Bible had gotten their description of Paradise. They had come here to Jamaica. Most of the island is an incessant rolling and unravelling hill. One might say Jamaica is all one hill which rolls into millions of unceasing shapes for a length of 184 kilometers and crosswise for another 80 kilometers, rising to 1500 to 2000 meters. Everywhere there is a blanket of green so thick that the earth never shows.”
Actor Errol Flynn on his first trip across Jamaica with Joe Blackwell, circa 1946.
Errol perfectly captures how I feel about Jamaica, “The Land of Wood and Water” and home to some of the most storied rum distilleries in the world.
I invite you to join me and six or seven other like-minded Jamaica Rum lovers for -
JAMROCK 2026
Wagwaan!
We give rum lovers a taste of real Jamaica, her people, natural beauty and of course, distilleries. Over the past seven years I have been refining the trip to make it as effective and comfortable as possible. There is so much natural beauty and so many amazing places on the island, you could spend months there and still not see a fraction of it. I do these trips annually for a group of up to nine travelers. We have a few people confirmed so there is still room for more.
A little bit about me: I’ve been living in Prague for more than thirty years after leaving the islands of the Florida Keys in 1994. Prior to that my family moved me to Jupiter, Florida in 1979 from New York to get me away from the bad influences of Greenwich Village and late 1970’s New York. It was a blessing, all the same debauchery but much nicer weather (just kidding). Visited Jamaica for the first time in 1981 for Reggae Sunsplash and then a couple of more times in the mid-eighties, but that’s a story for when we’re in Jamaica together. I’m a voice artist and broadcaster by trade who happened into the world of Jamaica Rum and never came back.
In 2017 I started working with Ultra Premium Brands in Prague and met Joy Spence when UPB were onboarding the Appleton Estate portfolio. We hit it off and I became the first Appleton Estate Ambassador for Central Europe. I owe so much to Joy; she’s an amazing person. My relationship with her opened the door for me to return to Jamaica for the first Jamaica Rum Festival where I met and later bonded with the Hussey family and Peppie Grant, the guys from Worthy Park, as well as Martha Miller and Robert Gordon from National Rums of Jamaica. I’ve been back with groups every year apart from 2021 (thanks to the global pandemic).
Additionally, I co-founded the Warehouse #1 Overproof Rum project with UPB in 2020. We’ve released 11 unaged Jamaican marques as well as several young-aged Jamaicans (under the Warehouse Legendary Marques brand) and have over 160 barrels of 10 different Jamaican marques aging as I write this intro. As you can see, Jamaica is in my DNA. Enough about me, how about an overview of our itinerary for next year.
JAMROCK 2026 features three “basecamps”:
In Kingston we will stay at the Terra Nova All Suites Hotel, which is owned by the Hussey Family, the owners of Hampden Estate. Terra Nova was built by the Lindo family, who once owned both J. Wray & Nephew and Clarendon. Lindo’s daughter married Lt. Blackwell, giving birth to a son, Chris. Yes, THAT Chris Blackwell (and son of the man who befriended Errol Flynn). Terra Nova was his childhood home until he was 18.
The 2nd property is a small beach town on the north side of the island, only 10km from Long Pond and 25Km from the Hampden Estate. It’s my favorite place on the island.
Lastly, we stay in the southwest corner of the island, in the storied town of Black River which sees very few tourists but holds a very special magic, before heading back to Kingston.
Jamrock 2026 Itinerary
- 3 nights in Kingston
- 4 nights on the north shore close to Long Pond and Hampden
- 3 nights in Black River
- 1 last night in Kingston
Accommodation is based on double occupancy in Kingston (single rooms can be arranged for a supplement), and private rooms elsewhere. The dates for the trip are 13/2 - 24/2 12 days/11 nights.
All five distilleries have confirmed our visit: Worthy Park, Long Pond, Hampden Estate, Appleton Estate, and Clarendon. New Yarmouth is not accessible, not even for me… But we stop and wander the perimeter for photo ops.
Along with the distilleries, we deep dive into Jamaican culture as well along with a couple of touristy excursions too. The trick is we do them at “off touristy” times.
The excursions include:
- The Bob Marley Museum (his home and recording studio on Hope Road) Kingston
- The Creighton Coffee Estate (Blue Mountains) in St. Andrew Parish
- Downtown Kingston Water Lane Art District
- Trench Town Government Yard (where Bob Marley wrote “No Woman No Cry”)
- The Kingston Dub Club: Jamaica’s premier music club
- Hellshire Beach in St. Catherine’s Parish
- Grant’s Jerk Center in St, Catherine’s Parish
- A Rastafarian farm in Trelawny Parish
- Vale Royal Great House ruins in Trelawny Parish
- Dunns River Falls in St. Ann’s Parish
- YS Falls in St. Elizabeth Parish
- Black River boat tour in St. Elizabeth Parish (private vessel)
- Floyd’s Pelican Bar - a bar 1km out to sea in St. Elizabeth Parish
I am estimating the cost for our next trip at 3650 Euro per person (this year’s rate with adjustment for inflation plus the extra night). This includes all transportation and transfers. accommodation, distillery trips, excursions, plus breakfast and dinners (7/7) outside of Kingston. Amazingly tasty, genuine Jamaican food like Jerked Chicken & Pork, Ackee & Saltfish, Curried Goat, Shrimp, Lobster, Snapper, Bammy, Plantains, Rice & Peas, etc. cooked by two of my favorite ladies.
3 dinners in Kingston and lunches throughout the trip are paid for individually.
This price does not include tips. Tips and individual meals should total around 600 Euro. Airfare is not included in this price.
For those of you who are truly interested, please email me at robertpolo@gmail.com or reach out here and I can start building out the list of travelers. It will be much more than just a great time. Just ask anyone who has gone with me. Here are a few testimonials:
“Dear Robert,
From the first call we had six months prior to the trip, I felt I was in the right hands. You are truly an amazing guide, and the Jamaican vibe is embedded in your heart. The welcome we received from all the distilleries were overblowing, we were treated truly as a royalty. Your input and knowledge of the land, local people and the actual distilleries is so precious you should entertain trips only for people who really deserve it.
I was amazed how smooth the trip went. You had everything planned to the smallest detail and I could just levitate and fully enjoy every single moment of the island.
I owe you a big thank you for your relentless push and never-ending phone calls to trace my missing luggage and successfully reunite me with it. That something you could not influence but you took it personally which I was very grateful for.
Brought back so many precious memories that none of the thousands pictures I took can describe. For me personally this was a dream come true which exceeded my wildest expectation, thanks to your effort and experience.
Thank you so much to make my dream come true and hope one day I can show Jamajca to my family. It’s a paradise on earth everyone should experience.
Yeah man, soon come, soon come!”
Jan – JAMROCK 2025
“Robert went above and beyond to make this trip to Jamaica unforgettable. As a professional in wine & spirits I’ve made many trips to many distilleries, but it is rare to get this much ‘behind the scenes’ insight information. We tasted incredible spirits (up to 5000 esters gr/AA) and some of the things we saw at the distilleries went beyond my ‘wildest’ imagination.
On top of that we got a good insight into the people, music and food of Jamaica, so the trip felt very well rounded.
Robert is a stellar guide with profound knowledge of the people and culture and is a master at storytelling. Restaurants weren’t always the best, but this wasn’t necessarily his fault.
We had a cook at some of the places we stayed, and their food was always great (special shoutout to Tamara). It was a pleasure to share my passion with other avid rum-lovers.
If you count yourself amongst those, I absolutely recommend this once-in-a-lifetime experience!”
Jef – JAMROCK 2025
“Jamrock 2025…
For me it was one of the best traveling experiences in my life EVER. When I was given the opportunity to join the 2025 journey (and my fiancée gave me the okay) I didn’t hesitate for a second. It was exactly the way in which I wanted to travel through an island an a culture that is dear to me… by not feeling too much like a tourist.
Everything was arranged perfectly (and in detail) by Robert and it’s his mission that everybody has the time of his life. His love for the island, the people and his knowledge combined with all the relationships he spent a good part of his life cultivating and maintaining, combined a unique set of elements that created an experience in my life that will be quite hard to beat.
I’ll end my plea by saying one last (not least) thing: the rum distillery visits are in a different ballpark in terms of quality. You’ll get everything you want and more. You could never be disappointed, nor would you be able to arrange this level of excellence on your own.
I went in with “once in a lifetime” as my mantra, but I’ll be back someday.”
Tom – JAMROCK 2025
I look forward to sharing my love for Jamaica, her people, music, food, natural beauty and, of course, RUM with you!
Respect,
Robert