“Molasses” says the label on the drab tanker truck headed out of the port of St. Vincent. If you’re not from the region, it may seem odd to haul great quantities of the sticky, sweet syrup. To us, it simply suggests that this locale no longer grows enough sugar cane to make rum.
This is, in fact, the case. But how can you have Caribbean culture without that fabled elixir? It almost happened here. Luckily, the St. Vincent rum industry went not to the grave but to C.K. Greaves & Co Ltd! Follow the tanker past Georgetown on the windward side of the island and you’d find yourself in Mt. Bentinck, at the St. Vincent Distillery Ltd. (SVDL), producer of the island’s most popular rums.
SVDL had as many ups and downs as the volcanic landscape around it. The distillery was established in the early 1900s when the estate owner realised what resources were virtually on his doorstep—mountain spring water and a sugar factory right next door which produced molasses. By 1970, the distillery had changed hands several times and was then acquired by the government, which built a new sugar factory. It seems they didn’t get the memo that planters were shifting from sugar cane to bananas. By 1985, the factory closed and the distillery had to rely on importing molasses from Guyana. (Hence the tanker truck.) Just over ten years later, the government threw in the towel.
It could have simply crumbled into the dust of history, but C.K. Greaves & Co., the island’s largest supermarket chain, stepped in to purchase the plant. Cecil Kenrick Greaves passed away soon afterwards. His son Kenrick, who had migrated to Australia 24 years before with his wife Phillippa and was working in manganese mining, returned to shoulder the business. “I’ve always liked rum, but I had no prior experience with a distillery,” he laughs. In 1997 the plucky couple moved back and “started at the bottom, hands-on.” With transferable skills, they set about resurrecting SVDL, with Kenrick as CEO and Phillippa as Marketing Manager. The bad news: the plant was in disrepair. The good news: A small cadre of skilled and motivated employees already existed. “Some have been here 27 years!” said Phillippa. Also on tap were the basic “recipes” for rum.
So the Greaves’s refitted the plant with new boiler, pumps, vats and pipes, cleaned the place up and set about reviving the industry. “There isn’t much manufacturing in St. Vincent” said Phillippa, “just the flour mill and the brewery, so the distillery is very important to the economy.”
The distillery is now aesthetically landscaped and the building boasts fresh paint. Phillippa explained, “It’s good for morale, when people come to work at a place that looks good. Most of our 28 employees come from the village. Since many ride a bicycle to work, we built a covered place to park them neatly, out of the sun and rain. We built the hospitality kiosk to do rum tastings and welcome tour visitors. There aren’t so many visitors now, but when the new airport opens, I am confident that this will increase tour visitors.”
Led by a knowledgeable guide, the tour takes you into a cavernous stone building full of hissing valves, coloured hoses, elevated vats and giant new stills. Beneath a grate in the floor, aromatic wash bubbles before running out for disposal. In another, more silent space, dark rum ages in barrels stacked five-high on planks. In another, clattering bottles are conveyed on belts for filling and labelling. You finish at the kiosk to sample the products.
The Greaves’s hope to expand their line to produce more aged rums for sophisticated drinkers, but for now, they’re happy with the success of their five products. The most popular, locally, is Sunset Very Strong Rum, while SLR is a smoother, less lethal white rum. “We keep trying to educate bartenders about Very Strong,” said Phillippa. “It’s our bread and butter, and it’s the culture here, but for visitors, it’s too often their first and last drink!” For those who like a traditional cocktail without the trouble of mixing, there’s Sunset Rum Punch. The company’s dark rums are Sparrow’s Premium and Captain Bligh XO Aged, both of which have a lovely flavour. All have won awards. A repeat winner of gold awards in international competitions, Captain Bligh XO Aged achieved a new level in 2014, when it was dubbed World’s Best Rum in London at the World Rum Awards.
Not bad for a couple of rum-making novices who returned from down under to keep St. Vincent’s rum business from going under!
