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Wine / Spirits Education in River Antoine
A working sugar-and-rum estate on Grenada's rural northeast coast in St. Patrick parish, near Tivoli and Lake Antoine. Home to the River Antoine Estate Rum Distillery, founded in 1785, it runs on the Caribbean's oldest working waterwheel and still makes rum by hand much as it did two centuries ago.
Why here
River Antoine is the oldest rum distillery in Grenada and one of the last places on earth making rum entirely by pre-industrial methods. Founded by French settlers in 1785, the estate is driven by a waterwheel dating to the 1840s, the oldest functioning watermill in the Caribbean, which turns the mill that crushes the cane. The juice is boiled down in a row of open copper pans over a wood fire, ferments naturally in open stone vats with nothing added, and is distilled into Rivers Royale, a clear overproof rum so strong, at around 69 to 75 percent alcohol, that airlines will not let you carry the full-strength bottle home. Nothing here is automated or bottled for show; you walk through a living factory that has barely changed in more than two hundred years, from cane field to fermentation house to the little bar where the rum is poured. For anyone interested in how spirits were actually made before industry, it is a rare and honest lesson, set in the green hills above the northeast coast.
Best months
The distillery is open to visitors year round, but the waterwheel and the full cane-crushing and distilling process only run during the harvest and pressing season, which falls roughly from January to June. Visit in those months to see the mill turning and rum actually being made rather than just the buildings and tasting. Guided tours take about thirty minutes and end with a tasting; the overproof rum is seriously strong, so pace it. There is no need to book ahead for the standard tour.
Getting there & around
River Antoine sits in St. Patrick parish on the northeast side of the island, a little over an hour's drive from St. George's, often combined with Lake Antoine, the Belmont cocoa estate and the Grenville nutmeg station on a tour of the north. There is no public transport to the door, so come with a guide, taxi or hire car. The standard tour costs a few US dollars, runs without reservation and lasts about half an hour; wear closed shoes, as this is a working plant with wood fires and moving machinery. Bottles of Rivers are sold on site, but only the lower-strength version can fly.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (1)
River Antoine Estate Rum Distillery
OutfitterThe River Antoine Estate Rum Distillery was founded by French settlers in 1785 and is the oldest working rum distillery in Grenada. It is powered by a waterwheel dating to the 1840s, the oldest functioning watermill in the Caribbean, which drives the cane crusher; the juice is then boiled in open copper pans over a wood fire and fermented in open stone vats without additives. Its overproof Rivers Royale rum is bottled at strengths near 69 to 75 percent.