8 Things You Should Know About Ten to One, the Script-Flipping Caribbean Rum

When Marc Farrell founded Ten to One Rum in 2018, he didn’t just want to bring another rum to the market. He wanted to change its narrative. As a Trinidadian native and rum aficionado, he’d grown weary of the category’s reputation as a lowbrow spirit anchored by stereotypical pirate, sailor, and plantation themes. While such tropes referenced the spirit’s complicated past, they ignored the beauty of contemporary Caribbean culture that surrounded Farrell during his upbringing. He wanted to share what he knew to be true, and he funneled that energy into developing a premium, all-occasion rum crafted to be “elevated, but not exclusive.”

When the first bottles of Ten to One’s white and dark rum hit New York’s shelves in 2019, their elegant, minimalistic bottle design commanded attention amid a sea of caricatures. Critical acclaim amplified the brand’s message in the years that followed: As of 2024, Ten to One boasted over 100 awards from various spirits competitions. The brand was also a finalist for Spirits Brand of the Year in VinePair’s 2025 Next Wave awards.

Ten to One has expanded its portfolio to include special reserve cask bottles to further celebrate the creativity and skill behind modern Caribbean rum production. Just like the brand’s original bottles, these unique expressions feature no additional sugar, coloring, or flavoring. Now that you know the basics of this bottled celebration of the contemporary Caribbean, here are eight more things you should know about Ten to One Rum.

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The founder is an academic wunderkind.

Farrell is a self-proclaimed student of rum. He also possesses an impressive history of educational prowess that makes him uniquely suited to understanding the business and the science behind a successful spirit. When he was just 16 years old, he moved from his native Trinidad and Tobago to study chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then went on to earn a master’s degree in philosophy from Cambridge and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
The founder also made his mark at Starbucks prior to the rum business.

In 2015, Farrell was helming a sports-related entrepreneurial project when he had a chance encounter with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. The interaction left such an impression on Schultz, he recruited Farrell to join the massive coffee company. Farrell accepted and ascended to the role of vice president at 33 — the youngest VP in the company’s history. During his tenure, he helped guide the organization’s e-commerce and global retail and beverage innovation strategies. Eventually, he’d make the switch from coffee to alcohol, not unlike a barista who moves on to bartending.
The brand’s name references a famous speech.

The name Ten To One is a callback to a legendary 1962 speech given by Trinidad and Tobago’s first prime minister, Dr. Eric Williams. During an impassioned speech urging the 10 Caribbean nations composing the then-struggling West Indies Federation to work together, Williams declared, “One from 10 leaves zero.” While the statement’s math is off, its sentiment is precise: The region is at its strongest when its countries work together. By naming the brand Ten to One, the brand leans into this belief to emphasize the importance of building community.
It’s co-owned by a Grammy winner.

Ten to One made quite the impression on Ciara. In a 2021 interview, the Grammy-winning R&B singer/songwriter and dancer said a Mojito made with the rum was the first drink she had after breastfeeding her son for 10 months. The rum blew her away — so much so, she came on to the brand as an investor and co-owner in October 2021. This isn’t her first ownership venture — she owns a media production company and Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders FC along with her husband, NFL quarterback Russell Wilson. Like her other entrepreneurial projects, she takes her role at Ten to One seriously, contributing to the brand’s marketing and business development strategies.
Its rums are blends sourced from multiple Caribbean countries.

Most of Ten To One’s product line reflects the importance of Caribbean nations working together to create something beautiful. The white rum brings column-distilled Dominican and high-ester pot-distilled Jamaican rums together. Trinidadian rum and 8-year-old column distilled rum from Barbados join forces with these rums to build its dark rum. For its Five Origin Select bottle, 11-to 15-year-old rum from Guyana is added to a blend from the other four countries. The lone exception to this rule is the brand’s 18-year Single Cask Reserve bottles, a limited-run trio of 92-proof bottles highlighting a singular rum from Trinidad, Jamaica, and Barbados, respectively. Naturally, Ten to One also blends these liquids to produce its equally rare 18-year Triple Cask Reserve.
The product took nearly two years to perfect.

There’s much more to making a proper pan-Caribbean rum than blending a bunch of spirits sourced from several different countries. In Ten to One’s case, it took almost two years of trial and error to craft a blend that met Farrell’s discerning standards. One of the reasons for this lengthy process was the decision to avoid shortcuts like adding sugar or resorting to artificial flavors or colors — something the brand stands by to this day.
The label contains hints of history and heritage.

There are no swashbuckling pirates or chippy sailors on Ten to One’s bottles. Instead, its elegant, geometrically patterned bottle design features more meaningful symbols. The embossed bird on the bottle’s front — which also doubles as the brand’s logo — is Trinidad’s national bird, the scarlet ibis. The stamp-like document to the right of the symbolic fowl pays homage to the shipping labels used when Caribbean sugar was sent off to Europe. These nuanced references, coupled with the brand’s name, help Ten to One tell an authentic story driven by a sense of place instead of rum’s well-worn archetypes, elevating the spirit inside the bottle in the process.
This is not a party rum.

Ten to One’s website proclaims the juice it produces is “not your spring break rum.” The statement dovetails with Farrell’s desire to elevate the rum category as a sophisticated libation and not something just thrown in as part of a boozy beverage ensconced with a frilly paper umbrella. These are rums designed to drink neat, on the rocks, or with a soupçon of coconut water or soda, not unlike how Caribbean residents may enjoy their rum at home. That said, Ten to One’s expressions can work wonders in a properly prepared classic cocktail. Just ask Ciara.

The founder is an academic wunderkind.

The founder also made his mark at Starbucks prior to the rum business.

The brand’s name references a famous speech.

It’s co-owned by a Grammy winner.

Its rums are blends sourced from multiple Caribbean countries.

The product took nearly two years to perfect.

The label contains hints of history and heritage.

This is not a party rum.

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