Although Christopher Columbus discovered Antigua in 1493 for Spain, the Spaniards never colonized it mainly because of its lack of fresh water and resistance from the Kalinago Indians. It was not until 1632 that the English successfully colonized it in 1632. In the 1651, Colonel Christopher Keynell, the first colonial governor of Antigua who served from 1652 to 1660, established the island's first large scale sugar estate later known as Betty's Hope. By the 18th Century, the island was dominated by over one hundred fifty cane processing plantations, each with its own sugar processing mill powered by windmills. The Antigua Sugar Industry page herein contains a brief history of Antigua’s sugar industry and the Betty’s Hope page a brief history of the first and still existing sugar plantation on the island.

The Colonial Office [1], the Royal Commission known as the Norman Commission, chaired by Sir Henry Norman and dispatched to the West Indies in 1896 by Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain, was formed to investigate the severe economic depression caused by declining global sugar prices and competition from heavily subsidized European beet sugar. Following the commission's findings, recommendations for crucial agricultural changes to revitalize the sugar industry in Antigua were made that resulted in the British government financial backing for the construction of a central sugar mill for the making of an improved grade of sugar. In December 1904, in spite of the local planters objections and to their utter dismay, a grant was given to British company Henckell DuBuisson & Co. to establish a central sugar mill known as the Antigua Sugar Factory in what used to be Gunthorpe’s Sugar Factory in St. George's Parish.

Gunthorpe’s was the largest central sugar mill in Antigua and monopolized all the island’s sugar production, but by the 1960s a combination of droughts, cane diseases and falling global prices made the industry unprofitable. By 1969, the government then led by Sir Vere Cornwall Bird began phasing out the sugar industry in favor of the tourism industry and purchased most sugar estates. The Gunthorpe’s Sugar Factory ceased to operate in 1972 when its machinery, equipment and locomotives were sold, some to St. Kitts. In 1982, the Antigua Sugar Industry Corp. was formed in order to enable the government to purchase machinery to restart the factory, which they did with the help of the Barbados Sugar Industry Ltd but only until 1988 when it closed permanently. Today, agriculture on the islands is focused on animal husbandry and local produce, while the historic remains of old mills serve only as cultural landmarks.

Antigua Distillery Ltd

For years, individual plantations in Antigua processed their sugarcane and produced rum for the local market.  However, in the early 20th Century estates stopped distilling and it was individuals mostly of Portuguese descent including John R. Anjo, Joseph de Freitas, Manuel Dias, Emanuel C. Farara, Quin Farara, Emanuel Gomes, C.F. Joaquim, and John A. Vieira, owners of rum shops that concocted their own blends.  In 1932 a number of these rum shops joined together to organize the Antigua Distillery Ltd (ADL) in response to the decline of local sugar production and the desire to control distillation and branding of their own rum. In 1934 Antigua Distillery Ltd. acquired several sugar plantations including Lynch’s, Colebrook’s, Brown’s, Walrond’s, Harman’s, and Hope’s estates and the Montpellier Sugar Factory to produce molasses for its rum distillery on leased land in Rat Island, near the main port in the capital of St. John’s.

ADL stands out for its long heritage and lighter style Caribbean rum philosophy. Today, the Antigua Distillery Ltd. produces Cavalier Antigua Rum, brought to market in the 1950s as the successor to their original Caballero brand, mainly for the local market and a 5 year and 10 year aged expressions of English Harbour Rum launched in 2002 and 2007 respectively. The currently produce Madeira, Sherry and Port casks aged expressions. It imports molasses which are fermented in open vats then distilled in its copper column still, a hybrid system combining a UK-sourced John Dore & Co. still with a Savalle rectification column, both made of copper, one of the only ones of its kind in the Caribbean. The alcohol that results from the distillation process is then aged in ex-bourbon barrels.