Business View Caribbean | October 2019

58 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN OCTOBER 2019 AT A GLANCE ST. VINCENT DISTILLERS WHAT: Award-winning Caribbean rum producer WHERE: Georgetown, St. Vincent WEBSITE: www.sunsetrum.com LIMITED S ince the introduction of sugar cane to the Caribbean in the 15th century, rum has been deeply rooted in all the islands, and St. Vincent was no exception. During the 1900s, it was home to a thriving sugar industry and several sugar factories. With rum production as a logical spin-off pursuit, the Mt. Bentinck Estate, located on the windward coast of St. Vincent, built a distillery in the foothills of La Soufriere Volcano - perfect for accessing readily available molasses from the sugar factory, next door. The Mt. Bentinck Distillery, as it became known, operated successfully for nearly 60 years, until 1963 when it was sold to the Government of St. Vincent and became St. Vincent Distillers Limited. Today, St. Vincent Distillers is an award-winning producer of the world’s best rums – made with passion, care, and exceptional taste in distinctive Caribbean style. C.K. Greaves & Company, current owners of St. Vincent Distillers, purchased the business from the Government in 1996. Enjoying its second generation of success, family-owned C.K. Greaves & Company also owns three chain supermarkets, a bakery, a wholesale business, and a distribution center on the island. Before the distillery was privatized, rum was produced there solely for the local market. Because St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a 32-island state, with rum the most popular drink, local sales were, and continue to be, brisk. St. Vincent Distillers’ rum is made on a two- column still and aged in once-used bourbon oak barrels. Rum offerings range from white to aged, and blended products. Locally, the most popular product is Sunset Very Strong Rum, which is 84.5 World’s best rums – Caribbean style