St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a thirty two island nation of which only nine of the islands are inhabited. The better known islands are St. Vincent where the capital of Kingstown is located, Bequia the second largest of all the islands and closest to St. Vincent and the privately owned island of Mustique, better known for being where Princess Margaret had her own private retreat called Les Jolies Eaux. The archipelago is located west of Barbados, north of Grenada and south of St Lucia. St. Vincent is home to La Soufrière[1] which erupted in May 1902, two days before Mount Pelée in Martinique, killing one thousand six hundred eighty people and had its last activity in April 2021 spewing ashes that reached all the way to Barbados.

In the early 19th Century sugarcane was grown extensively in St. Vincent and rum production was substantial for its small size of one hundred thirty three square miles. By the end of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th Century however, only four small distilleries were in operation and sugar and rum production had declined considerably producing rum mainly for local consumption. The last operating sugar mill in St. Vincent, Mount Bentnick Sugar Factory, closed in 1962.

St. Vincent Distillers Ltd

St. Vincent Distillers Ltd., nestled at the foothills of the La Soufrière volcano on the windward coast of the island, is located on the grounds of the old Mount Bentinck Estate where rum was already being produced in 1806. By the turn of the 20th Century, production from large sugar plantations, with outdated equipment and absentee owners, was in decline in part due to the 1898 Windward Islands Hurricane. The eruption of La Soufrière in May 1902 devastated the northern region of St. Vincent, burying large sugar plantations including Mount Bentinck Estate, in deep ash and pyroclastic debris and severely crippling the island's sugar economy. Following the eruption, the Mount Bentinck Sugar Factory managed to rebuild and resume its role as the economic heartbeat of Georgetown. In 1925 they built a rum distillery as part of the sugar mill operation known as the Mt. Bentinck distillery. For the most part of the 20th Century Mount Bentinck Sugar Factory and distillery were owned by the Beach and Hughes families, during which time its history was defined by labor unrest and political friction.

Throughout the years, local businessman Basil Balcombe (1904-1976) was able to purchase property in Langley Park and land in Argyle which he swapped for the Fancy Estate. In the early 1960s he sold the Fancy Estate to the government, money he used to expand his land holdings which eventually included the Sans Souci Estate, the Colonarie Estate, the Langley Park Estate, the Mount Bentinck Estate and the Grand Sable Estate. After the Mount Bentinck Sugar Factory closed in 1962 and the distillery was nationalized in 1963 and renamed Saint Vincent Distillers Ltd (SVDL), historical records indicate that Balcombe continued to operate the rum distillery at Mount Bentinck in association with the government.

Balcombe Investments Ltd was incorporated in 1970 and vesting of the Sans Souci, Colonarie, Langley Park, Mount Bentinck and Grand Sable estates and some other agricultural sector assets were transferred to the company’s name. When Basil Balcombe died in 1976, the shares of Balcombe Investments Ltd were distributed among his family members including two of his sons, Lucky and Benedict who received 51%. Lucky then sold his controlling interest in the company to the government who then took over its administration. The government continued to operate SVDL until 1996 when C.K. Greaves & Co., a sister company of C.K. Greaves & Co. Ltd Supermarkets the leading supermarket chain in St. Vincent, purchased it from the government.

Cecil Kenrick Greaves (1923-1996) began the purchase negotiations on behalf of C.K. Greaves & Co., but passed away before they were finalized on October 26, 1996 after a long battle with cancer. His son Kenrick and his wife Phillippa, who had migrated to Australia in 1972, returned to St. Vincent to finish the purchase negotiations and take care of the business even though they had no prior experience with a distillery.  They set about resurrecting SVDL, with Kenrick as CEO and Phillippa as Marketing Manager. Under their leadership, SVDL was fully modernized and a new portfolio of brands introduced that include Captain Bligh XO bottled at 40% ABV and Sunset Very Strong Rum bottled at 84.5% ABV in 2014 winning the World’s Best Rum award and a bronze medal in the overproof category respectively at the London World Rum Awards, Mutineers Gold XO Special Reserve, Sparrow’s Premium Rum an aged smooth brown rum, Sunset Very Strong Rum which is 84.5% ABV and SLR White Rum, a smooth white rum bottled at 40% ABV.

Since there is no sugar industry on the island, the distillery imports molasses which according to Phillippa Greaves, is their biggest challenge. She states that most of the Caribbean islands no longer grow sugar so the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) distilleries have to look at importing molasses from countries like India, Fiji and Mexico. Even Guyana she says, one of the last large Caribbean islands to produce sugar on a big scale, has in recent years shut down three sugar factories. The fermentation process is done in open vats with commercial yeast for a period of two to three days. Distilling is made in a twin column John Dore & Co. made still installed in 1985. Aging is done on site in ex-bourbon casks up to five years.

_____________________________________________________________________

[1] There are three major volcanoes in the Caribbean that bear the name "Soufrière", derived from the French word for sulphur outlet or sulphur mine: in St. Vincent, in Basse-Terre Guadeloupe and in Montserrat.