River Antoine Rum Distillery

History

Distillery was founded in 1785.
At River Antoine they distill rum the traditional way. This is the only operational water-driven distillery in the Eastern Caribbean. The mill which crushes the cane to extract the juice is driven by a water wheel and the boiler which distills the fermented juice is fueled by bagasse (the solid residue from the cane crusher).

"The estate dates back to 1656 when Antoine a Frenchman acquired the 500 acres plantation of bananas, cocoa, nutmeg and sugar cane in St. Patrick." Says Juney Bernard, Senior Tour Guide at River Antoine. "It was then sold to Captain Grant an Englishman in 1724. In 1786 the estate changed owners again and John Glean and Thomas Degale became the new owners until 1988 when three Grenadians, Ray Edgar, Shirley Richards and Franklyn Thomas, purchased the estate. This included Lake Antoine and the River Antoine Rum distillery. Organic bananas are now supplied to Sainsburys, a large supermarket chain in England. Rivers Royal Grenadian White Rum is also produced organically on the estate. Come and join the River Antoine Rum Tour.