The Rum Bar at Cooper Island Beach Club keeps over 400 rums, which the club calls the most extensive selection in the Virgin Islands. It sits a few steps along the beach from the restaurant in Manchioneel Bay, and for most charter crews it is the single best reason to put the boat on a mooring there for the night.
What is actually on the shelves
The collection runs around the room on open shelves behind the bar, arranged so you can see what you are choosing from. Alongside the sipping rums there are house infusions and the classics done properly. If you do not know where to start, the staff will talk you through where a bottle comes from and why it tastes the way it does, and there is a rum flight if you would rather taste across a few than commit to one.
Worth knowing: the number has been climbing. Older guides to the bay still quote the figure at over 280. The club now says over 400.
The rest of the drinks
The main bar covers the BVI standards, a Painkiller, a Dark and Stormy, a rum punch, plus wine, champagne and spirits. The beer is their own: Cooper Island runs a solar-powered microbrewery on the island, and those beers are on tap at the main bar and at the Rum Bar.
In the morning, the Coffee Box sits at the northern dinghy dock. Organic coffee from VI Coffee Roasters, house-made pastries, sandwiches and locally made gelato, with Wi-Fi, power outlets and decking that looks straight out over the Sir Francis Drake Channel. It is a good place to sit with a laptop or wait out a squall.
Doing it by boat
- Book dinner before you take a mooring. In high season the mooring field fills faster than the dining room does, and arriving without a table is a long dinghy ride to nowhere.
- Dress code is smart-casual. Shirts and cover-ups at lunch; shirts, shoes and cover-ups at dinner. Worth packing something ashore rather than turning up straight off the swim platform.
- There are two dinghy docks. The northern one puts you at the Coffee Box; the main one lands you by the restaurant and the shop.
- Manchioneel Bay is open to the east. It is comfortable in the ordinary trades and uncomfortable when a big easterly swell is running, which is worth checking before you commit to the night.
Common questions
How many rums does the Cooper Island Rum Bar have?
Over 400, according to Cooper Island Beach Club. The club describes it as the most extensive rum selection in the Virgin Islands.
Can you get there without staying at the resort?
Yes. The bay is a mooring field, and the bar, restaurant, shop and Coffee Box are open to visiting boats. Dinner is worth reserving ahead.
Is there anything other than rum?
Their own solar-powered microbrewery beers on tap, plus wine, champagne, cocktails and spirits at the main bar, and coffee and pastries at the Coffee Box.
Sources
- Cooper Island Beach Club, Eat and Drink, read 2 November 2026.
- BoatyBall, Cooper Island Rum Bar, for the earlier figure of over 280 rums.
More Cooper Island detail sits in our guide to BVI beach bars and restaurants, and the bay itself is in the anchorage guide. To build a week around it, use the itinerary builder.
