The morning was a beautiful one as we waited for the arrival of the seaplane on St. Thomas. We were headed for St. Croix and an opportunity to visit the Cruzan Distillery. This was going to be a fun day, not just for the visit to Cruzan, but a seaplane ride and an opportunity to see St. Croix as well. The plane scooted across the harbor and into the air and 20 minutes later we splashed down in Christiansted, St. Croix.
The little village of Christiansted is one of those European look towns with historic buildings and narrow streets. This is a warm village with many shops and great little water front restaurants. We managed to hire a cab for the day and off we went to visit the Cruzan Distillery.
Upon arriving at the distillery we were taken into the welcome center and introduced to some of their fine products, the rum you know. They later took us on a tour of the facilities. First to the fermentation tanks, then to the still and the aging sheds. This was a surprisingly small distillery, but it was able to produce a large amount of rum anyway. I found it interesting that they were able to use the dregs of the distilling process to make cattle and poultry feed. They were able to make use of most of the waste materials.
The real important part of the story is the rum, and they do make some very nice rums. The majority of the product is put on tanker ships and hauled to Auburndale, Florida and flavored and bottled at the plant there. Some of the rum is aged at the distillery and bottled here in St. Croix. The flavored rums are great for punches and other tropically unique cocktails. The Aged rums are wonderfully smooth and flavorful for more traditional cocktails and sipping.This was a fun and filled with interesting information and some really good tasting. Plus the chance to visit St. Croix and a seaplane ride to get there and return. The people of St. Croix were warm and very helpful for us on the trip, and I look forward to a return visit in the near future. The rums were very good too. ;o)
