|
||
|
HomeNewsRum in the CaribbeanHow Rum Got its NameRum DiaryHow to Taste RumRum TastingsAbout the RumelierFavourite RumsRum CollectionLatest AdditionsTHE RUMSTurks & Caicos RumsBambarra RumJamaican Rum TripSt.Kitts Rum TripRum LabelsDa Rum BarCooking with RumRum Shops & RecipesPrevious Rums of the WeekPhoto GalleryUseful LinksGuest Book
|
St.Kitts and Nevis Rum Trip July 2008 The Rumelier has just returned from St.Kitts and Nevis on a weeks visit, where he enjoyed the sun and rum to excess. On the way down to St.Kitts The Rumelier had to overnight in Miami, Florida, and was fortunate to get to spend some
time with Robert and Robin Burr from "Gifted Rums" at their home in Coral Gables. While spending time with the Burr's
The Rumelier was allowed to taste numerous fine rums in the Burr's collection. This indeed was a great way to start a
vacation, fine rums and very knowledgeable rum company. The Rumelier hopes to return this favour in the coming months.
St.Kitts and Nevis were once known as the sugar islands and it is not difficult to figure out why when
you visit these beautiful Caribbean islands. There is evidence of sugar cane cultivation absolutely everywhere, from the actual
sugar fields, chimney stacks, railway tracks, to the long closed sugar mill. This is the real
Caribbean, tall volcanic peaks, long sandy beaches, majestic palm trees, clapboard houses and sugar cane fields in abundance.
This is the Caribbean you dreamt of visiting, on cold windy nights, living as a kid in North Wales. The history of sugar cane cultivation goes back hundreds of years and follows a familiar script on many of the Caribbean
islands. These islands were fought over by the French, British, Dutch and Spanish and changed hands numerous times. When St.Kitts
and Nevis finally became a British colony after the Treaty of Versailles, sugar was king and it was making the British planters
some of the richest men on earth. Unfortunately all of these plantations now lie in ruins
waiting to be bought by wealthy ex-pats or being surrounded by resorts and golf courses or just crumbling away. Sugar cane
cultivation and sugar production have recently gone the same way as the former plantations, with the last cane being cut on
July 31st 2005. The local government decided that the St.Kitts Sugar Manugacturing Corporation and sugar production was no
longer a profitable business and the decision to close the sugar mill and all sugar production, was made. Recently there have been rumours of reviving sugar cane cultivation for the production of ethynol, but many locals
feel this may just be empty election promises. The Rumelier was lucky to receive a personal
tour of the now closed sugarmill in Basseterre, given to him by one of the former workers at the mill. This tour was one of
the highlights of his trip to St.Kitts and Nevis and gave a great insight into how sugar was produced and the vast scale of
the operation, which was responsible for over 1000 jobs on this small island.
Of course with any island that has an abundance of sugar cane, there has to be evidence of rum production,
which was the main reason for The Rumelier's visit to St.Kitts and Nevis. Unfortunately, there are no longer any legally
distilled rums in the country.When the sugarmill closed down and when the distillery was damaged badly by hurricane
Hugo, both the continuous three column still and the two copper pot stills were shipped off to other countries. The continuous
still was moved to Grenada and the pot stills to Guyana. The only rum actually distilled on St.Kitts and Nevis these days
is moonshine or as it is called locally, "Hammond" or "Culture". Like sugar production before it, this
will soon die out, as the supply of locally produced molasses will eventually dry up. The molasses being used today to
ferment in old oil drums is what remains inside the huge molasses tanks at the long abandoned sugarmill in Basseterre. The Rumelier actually witnessed the demolition of the molasses tanks at the sugar storage warehouse at the shipping
dock, where the demolished tanks were being loaded onto flatbeds to be sold for scrap metal. The smell of molasses
was everywhere and was noticed well before the realization of the flatened tanks. The local
moonshine distillers were talking about switching to "white potatoes" to make their rum when the supply of molasses
finally dries up. The island is covered in sugar cane, so The Rumelier suggested that they use fresh sugar cane juice to distill
their rum. This was met with some scepticism by the Hammond distillers. (See below for a detailed
description of The Rumelier's visit to a "Hammond" still.)
The only evidence in the country of legal rum production is a small bottling and blending plant, owned
and operated by Demerara Distillers Limited (D.D.L.) of Guyana. This plant is located next to the Customs
Offices in Bird Rock, Basseterre, close to the old sugar shipment warehouse. Here they bottle their own brands of Belmont
Estate Rum and Cane Spirit Ritchmont (C.S.R.). There are four variations of Belmont Estate Rum, Special Gold, Superior White,
Gold Coconut and Caribbean Coconut aswell as Belmont Estate Napoleon Blended Brandy. They also bottle
the Brinley's Gold range of flavoured rums, Vanilla, Lime, Mango, Coffee and Spiced and a rum called St.Kitts
Rum for other customers in St.Kitts. All the rum is imported from D.D.L. in Guyana in twenty
foot liquid tankers and then blended and bottled at the plant in Basseterre. They also age a small ammount of rum in old french
oak barrels left over from the days of Baron Edmond De Rothschild's involvement in rum production. The Baron decided that
St.Kitts had some of the best water in the Caribbean and thought this would produce the best spirit in the world. These barrels
have seen better days with many being discarded due to leakages in recent times. Even
though the bottling plant is relatively small, they do manage to produce some excellent rums under the various labels and
are always looking for new product lines and packaging ideas. The Belmont and CSR range of
rums are not widely available outside of St.Kitts, but if you visit the islands you must try the whole product range while
you have the chance.
To compliment all the locally produced rums, there is a large selection of imported rums available in
St.Kitts from all over the Caribbean. Many bars have a large selection of rums to choose from, as do all the liquor stores
on the island. Hammond or Culture was available in some of the rum shops away from the tourist areas. There is an abundance
of rum shops on the island, usually brightly painted by the beer or rum companies. These bars are a part of the community
and many have been around for centuries, they are literally on every street corner.
Visit to a Moonshine or Hammond Still On his recent visit to St.Kitts The Rumelier was very fortunate to get
a view into the culture of the island when he got to visit an illegal hammond still, hidden deep in a small valley, in an
old sugar cane field. This undoubtedly was the highlight of the trip for The Rumelier. It
began with a taxi ride from Frigate Bay, past Basseterre and up the west coast of the island to the Sandy Point area.
The taxi driver The Rumelier used during his visit was an excellent guide and had shown him areas of the island that
most tourists and even many locals have never seen. It was during a tour of the island the previous day that the driver had
organized the visit to the still, as it was already too late in the day to witness the rum production. On arrival at Sandy
Point the taxi pulled up in front of a small corner house, on a slight hill, on a dead end road, leading up to the nearest
long abandoned sugar cane field. After a short wait, two men and two small potcake dogs came out of the house and
started to lead the way up the hill towards the illegal still. The Rumelier was now getting
excited, this was something he had always wanted to see first hand, and now it was finally going to happen. The small group took a twenty minute walk through the sugar cane fields, past crumbling remains of old sugar
plantation buildings and chimneys, with fantastic views of St. Eustatius away in the far distance. The two dogs
were running off in the fields and climbing on the ruins chasing some of the local population of goats. A little further
down the old track and the first hints of a still became visible. A small plume of smoke was coming out of a field in a small
valley in front of the group. Could this finally be the still The Rumelier was searching for?
A small path lead off to the left of the main path down a slope where two local men were seated. The reception
as the group arrived was initially a bit frosty, with questions about why the guides were bringing more people to see
the stills. However, after a short time everything was fine and introductions were made. On
the site there were two simple pot stills in operation. Each one consisted of the main pot, made from an old oil drum which
was linked to another oil drum with the gooseneck. The second drum was acting as the condenser and was full of water. A
coil wound it's way around inside the drum with a small exit pipe at the bottom for the rum to drip out of and for collection
purposes. Each pot still sat on top of a small fire, made from branches cut off nearby trees.
The secret here was not to heat the deadwash too hot, as this would cause all sorts of problems for the distillers. A hot
fire would also damage the oil drums, and they would not have a long lifespan. Graphic descriptions were given when a drum
is heated too hot and The Rumelier was told to run if the sides of the drum started to swell out!! There did not
seem to be much concern for this happening, these guys appeared to have been doing this for years and knew how to keep the
fire low, underneath the still. On another side of the "distillery" there were several
more old drums filled with molasses, all in different stages of fermentation. Each drum was filled almost to the top
with molasses and water and then two very small packets of bakers yeast were added to the wash, just like the ones you buy
in the foodstore for making bread. The average fermentation time was nine days, a long time when compared to commercial operations.
This is why there were numerous tanks needed if the distillers wanted to make rum regularly. This whole operation appeared
to run around the same time everyday, as The Rumelier was too late the previous day to see the rum being distilled. The Rumelier's
group had appeared at the "distillery" at a perfect time, as the first drops of "Hammond" were about to
start dripping from the still.
There was a little excitement in the air now and much tinkering of the makeshift valves on the condenser.
Feeling the goose-neck for heat seemed to indicate that the rum was about to start dripping from the exit pipe at the bottom
of the condenser. Some water was thrown on the fire so as not to overheat the wash. Then, right on cue the first drops (shown
in photo) began to drip from the pipe. An old plastic soda bottle was put under the pipe to catch the clear liquid, now flowing
freely from the still. When this bottle was nearly full the contents were then transfered to a larger old three gallon plastic
water bottle, to be replaced by another old soda bottle. Some of the contents of the
first bottle were separated into an old Gatorade bottle and given to The Rumelier to take home as a present. Of course he
was not allowed to leave before sampling some of this fine spirit. After a little trepidation, a small sip was taken. It was
pretty good stuff, not what he had been expecting at all. It definitely needed filtering, which could easily be achieved by
pouring through a coffee filter. This was such a simple looking operation, but these distillers
had years of experience, knowing every little step of the operation off by heart.
These guys were experts at their "hobby" and The Rumelier could have stayed there all day talking about the ins and outs of the operation, but unfortunately he had another appointment with DDL in Bassetere. He was going from low-tech to high-tech in the space of minutes. The future for these distillers is fairly unsure right now. Their supply of molasses is limited to what remains in the molasses tanks at the long abandoned sugar-mill. It was said that one of the tanks has a hole in the top, and so the molasses from this one is not as good as the other tank. The distillers mentioned that they may have to use white potatoes instead of molasses. This appeared a strange choice for an island covered in sugar cane, now growing wild everywhere. Surely fresh sugar cane juice would be a more viable option for fermentation. Whatever the future is for these distillers, they have left a legacy on the islands of St.Kitts and Nevis and hopefully they will pass their art on to future generations to enjoy. This brief meeting with the distillers and their "Hammond" will be long remembered by The Rumelier, an unforgettable experience, one that should be enjoyed by all rum lovers once in their lifetime.
St.Kitts Overview St.Kitts and Nevis is a fantastic location to visit for any rum lover. Even though there isn't any legally distilled rum being produced on the island anymore, there is still a great deal of rum related sights to see. There are the endless sugar cane fields and plantations, some of which have been restored, sugarmills, warehouses, rum bottling plants and last but not least, illegal Hammond stills and thier rums. Of course, there is all sorts of rum to be discovered and tasted. The local rums, Hammond, Belmont, CSR, Brinley's and St.Kitts Rum and also an endless list of imported rums from neighbouring islands, too many to list here. Combined with all the above, are friendly and helpful people who want you to enjoy your vacation. The island of St.Kitts is relatively small, but there is plenty to do and see during a weeks vacation. A great adventure for any rum lover, and well worth a visit.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Enter supporting content here
