Takamaka

Forty years ago, three brothers wanted to enjoy life and they started distilling rum from the sugarcane in Seychelles for personal consumption. Over the years, it blossomed into a full blown distillery that supplies rum to 50 countries and makes over two hundred thousand liters of this stuff daily.

They offer a free tour and a paid tasting, I joined them for both these events.

The old ancestral house serves as the reception area, museum and the tasting venue.

They display a respectable collection of their rum labels released over the years.

The distillation pot is shown in one of the museum rooms.

The government wants to prioritize other areas for development and land available for sugarcane plantation is limited. With the growing success of Takamaka, molasses is imported from nearby countries like Reunion or Mauritius and used as the starting material for the alcohol fermentation.

The 5,000 plus liter distillation tanks are a viewing stop during the tour.

The museum shows the modest distilling equipment used by the founders when they initially forayed in this venture.

The bottle capping machine is another relic on display.

The distillery is only 21 years old and still experimenting with their process. They use 2T atmospheric pressure to age the rum faster.

The tour guide was funny, and he was also the one who was going to lead the tasting event. There were two options for tasting. One had six rums which were lighter and fruity.

The second option offered three of their premium rums. I chose the latter.

The premium rums were 43 to 48 ABV. Some had spicy notes, some had cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and allspice notes. Overall this distillery had done a great job with their rum product line. The tasting lasted for over an hour, and I returned a bit tipsy.