Old Road Rum Distillery Tour

Ninety minutes at the oldest surviving rum distillery in the Caribbean. The ruins, the rebuilt walls, the working still, and a tasting at Alfie's Bar, built into the original 1681 stonework and named for the last head distiller who worked it.

What you walk through

The aqueduct that fed the mill. The lime kiln. The chimney that is the tallest stone structure on St Kitts. The excavated walls of the 1681 distillery itself. The Widdowson family started uncovering this ground in 2010, working out from a single red brick spotted in the undergrowth. The bell tower, the boiling house, and the curing trough have all been brought back into the open. The grounds run into the rainforest above; on a quiet day you can hear the stream that once turned the mill.

The guides know the property. The grandson of someone who worked the cane is, often as not, the one telling the story. Bring questions.

What you taste

Three pours at Alfie's Bar. Canvas umbrella, dark wood counter, the seventeenth-century stone wall at your back.

The white first. Clean cane, dry, the bottle you want at home behind the bar.

The twelve-year aged next. Mahogany at the edges, brown butter and stewed plum. This is the bottle Forbes named the world's best rum in June 2025, and that the International Bartender Spirits Awards named Rum of the Year the same year.

The rum cream last. Cold from the freezer, in a small glass with a single rock. Most guests would not have ordered it. Most guests now want to take it home.

Details

USD $45 per person. Ninety minutes. Three pours included. Take-home bottles available at the bar for cash or card.

Adults only. Comfortable shoes; the paths are uneven in places. Booking confirmed by email; arrival window of fifteen minutes either side. Cancellation up to forty-eight hours before.

Wingfield Estate, Old Road Town. Twenty-five minutes from RLB; twenty from Basseterre. Adjacent to Romney Manor and Caribelle Batik; many guests combine the two on the same morning.

The story

For the long version of how the distillery came back, read The long quiet between bottles in &Lime.

Awards and press

• Rum of the Year, 2025 International Bartender Spirits Awards (12-year)
• The World's Best Rum, Forbes (June 2025)

Format. Experience · 90 minutes · Adults only.
Host. Old Road Rum Company. Co-founded by Jack Widdowson and Ben Taylor. Wingfield Estate, Old Road Town.
Tier. Born Here.