Rivers is still made almost exactly as it was back in the 1700s - in the same place and even on much of the same equipment!

Visiting the distillery in the north of the island is almost like taking a step 250 years back in time. Rickety wooden carts are pushed along ancient tracks to transport the cane and the stone structure containing the distillery has long graduated from the stage of being antique to now lying somewhere between decrepit and disintegrating.

This is a distillery that runs all year. A bit of a contradiction as I have learned, since the concentration of sugar in cane is at its highest during the dry season (January to May), but the water wheel which powers the cane press is obviously more likely to work when there is plenty of water in the river, which would be the rainy season (June - December).



The simplicity and the antiquity of the place is beyond description but visually stunning. I was told that the bundles of cane are crushed twice, then placed in the island's only railway cart which is pushed (here by our guide Rock) along the island's only railway line. It is a short trip to the end where it is dumped into the world's (maybe it just the island's) biggest composting heap.

















I have to admit, that I got the rest of this description from reading different articles on the internet because the distillery was shut down for some maintenance on the day we visited. But, the juice is roughly filtered by scooping out the 'bits' from the pressing process and then by letting the juice drain through a wicker mat. The juice then flows into the main building, where it is 'ladled' through a succession of big metal basins (called 'coppers') until it is brought to the boil in the last one.





Once the right sugar concentration has been reached (and how they know that is beyond me), the hot juice is spooned into cooling tanks at the back of the building. I am told, it spends two days there, during which time it is invaded (or so they say) by natural yeasts in the air and the fermentation starts spontaneously.





The fermenting juice is then pumped upstairs into concrete fermentation tanks, where it bubbles away for eight days. After this, it is ready for distillation. The distilled rum is then pumped by hand from the sealed tank (it is important to note that this happens in the presence of a Customs Officer, but no one told me why) into bottles.





Being a lover of rum, I found this all rather romantic and fairytalesque - and we all know fairytales have happy endings, right? Well apparently not this one, while we were not able to sample the product at the distillery and have been unable to find it on the island to purchase, I will quote one of the many reviews I have read about Rivers Rum. "Words fail most people, partly as they fight to describe the impact of a factory that refused to be dragged into the nineteenth century, partly because their vocal chords are rendered incapable by the 70% potion!" Since I value my vocal cords (not sure Barry does though), I have now crossed Rivers Rum off of my bucket list of rums to sample!