Factory Tours?

[KINGSTON]

Quick Question: Who gives the best Factory Tours in the Rum Biz? Every Year my Wife and I go to the Caribbean for vaca. I might be nice to fit in a visit to a Rum Factory.

Kingston
Long Ashes and Tall Glasses!

[Dood]

Originally Posted by KINGSTON

Quick Question: Who gives the best Factory Tours in the Rum Biz? Every Year my Wife and I go to the Caribbean for vaca. I might be nice to fit in a visit to a Rum Factory.

Kingston
Long Ashes and Tall Glasses!

Anguilla Rums, Ltd gives tours (Pyrat Rum). The facility isn't very impressive and you are not allowed to take pictures.

[KINGSTON]

I saw a mini tour of their Factory on the Food network. It was a story on Caribbean food and Travel. It's been a few years now- But it intrigued me. I would love to check out their Factory but taking pics is half the fun!

[Edward Hamilton]

If you're looking for a rum factory tour the most interesting are in the French islands where you can see the cane being crushed, the juice being fermented and then distilled and in some places you can visit the aging warehouse. Yes, by definition, all warehouses are aging, but in the rum industry the aging warehouse is where the barrels are being aged.

From a tourist's perspective the only problem in the French islands is that the rum season is only a few months a year and most of it coincides with the high season for hotels and airline flights.

At the molasses based distilleries you might see molasses, distillation and barrels being aged but you will miss all the sugar cane crushing operation since these distilleries generally buy their molasses from a third party. Appleton is one of the few distilleries that own their own molasses source, but again that is only in operation a few months a year.

But there are a lot of places to see distilleries other than the French islands. Grenada's River Antoine crushes cane with one of the last water wheels still in operation in the islands. There is only one other of which I am aware. The rum isn't exactly what I would call connoisseur's choice, but it is a tour not to miss if you are on Grenada.

I hope to have the next book out in a few months which will give information on most of the distilleries in the Eastern Caribbean.

Depending on what island you are going to and what time of year I might be able to give you better suggestions.

[Rum Runner]

Looking forward to the next book Ed!...We're planning a "theme " trip called "Rum and Rocks"...Discovering food, drink and culture down Island..At least that's my title...Hers' is "Rocks and Shopping"...We have come to an agreement.

[angelsword]

Originally Posted by Rum Runner

Looking forward to the next book Ed!...We're planning a "theme " trip called "Rum and Rocks"...Discovering food, drink and culture down Island..At least that's my title...Hers' is "Rocks and Shopping"...We have come to an agreement.

If you spend as much on rum as my wife does on "rocks", then you will own one extremely well stocked bar. And I don't just mean "home" bar. :eek:

[cigar-aficionado]

Mountgay and Foursquare run good ones in Barbados

[Berbician]

Appleton is probably the best rum tour that I've been on - if you book in advance, they will also provide lunch.

Foursquare and Mount Gay (both in Barbados) are quite good.

River Antoine (Grenada) is a very good tour, but the rum is revolting:eek: - apparently they've been making it in exactly the same way for over 200 years. You will find much better Grenadian rum at both Clarke's Court and Westerhall, although Clarke's Court no longer do a full tour, while Westerhall no longer distill their own rum.

I visited Demerara Distillers Limited (who make the various El Dorado rums) a few years ago, on my own, and they were very reluctant to divulge much information - I think they thought I was a spy from a rival company. I've heard that they now do a proper tour - next time that I'm in Guyana I'll give it a try.

[Scottes]

Originally Posted by Berbician

I visited Demerara Distillers Limited (who make the various El Dorado rums) a few years ago, on my own, and they were very reluctant to divulge much information - I think they thought I was a spy from a rival company.

DDL seems to have very tight lips. I can't find much out about any Guyana distillers (what ever happened to the place in Port Morant?) or Demerara rums in general...

[Berbician]

At one time, every sugar plantation in Guyana had its own distillery.

Now, there are only two left - DDL at Diamond, East Bank Demerara; and DIH (D'Aguiar's Industries and Holdings) at Thirst Park, just outside Georgetown. DDL claims to have a 90% market share.

The Port Mourant sugar plantation no longer has its own sugar factory, never mind a distillery - sugar cane from Port Mourant is transported to the nearby Albion factory.

There are plans to build a distillery at Skeldon, on the west bank of the Corentyne River, but I believe that this plant will only be making ethanol for industrial use.