Since the start of the global COVID pandemic, 83 Islands have filled, sold and distributed over 33,500 bottles of hand sanitiser in Vanuatu. When the crisis initially hit Vanuatu in March 2020, we sold hand sanitiser in bulk and refilled customers’ bottles on the site. We moved to a high quality plastic bottle for safety reason. Although hand sanitiser can kill most viruses and bacteria, some bacterial spores that could be found in dirty containers could theoretically survive even our strong 80% Ethanol hand sanitiser. This is why WHO recommends using hydrogen peroxide in hand sanitiser, its oxidative power can destroy those spores. At 83 Islands Distillery, we use a more powerful industrial food grade oxidiser to clean our bottles before filling them with hand sanitiser. Furthermore, we only use water filtered by reverse osmosis to guarantee that there is no organic contaminant in our products. Two years later and with COVID now in the country. It’s time to start reusing some of those 33,500 bottles. To ensure the highest safety standard, we will not refill bottles on the spot. To make sure the bottle wasn’t contaminated while empty, we will take it, clean it and refill it. This process […]

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83 Islands Distillery is proud to announce that the Efate Sugarcane Farmers Association (ESFA) was founded on January 28, 2022, at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Biosecurity (MALFFB). This new association will help local farmers develop this nascent new industry for Vanuatu. There is an enormous demand for more sugarcane and community cooperation is essential. We hope that this new association, organised by local farmers for local farmers, will help anyone who wants to plant sugarcane to have better access to seedlings or cuttings as well as knowledge to improve their crops.  Sugarcane Farmer Pastor Kapan Kapalu was elected chairman of the association by 10 farmers who are based on Efate. Pastor Kapalu was humble and grateful to take up the role as the chairman of the ESFA and asked for everyone’s cooperation, patience and effort to walk and work together on this adventure. He encourages all the farmers who are interested in planting sugarcane to contact the association so they can be supplied by the existing farmers with sugarcane seeds for replantation.  83 Islands Distillery spearheaded sugarcane plantations at a large scale on Efate in 2020. That year, local sugarcane production was a little bit over […]

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83 Islands Distillery, a small craft distillery in Port Vila, Vanuatu, is releasing its first vodka and coffee liqueur. The vodka called ‘This Vodka Tastes Better’ is a very high quality vodka made from 100% wheat grain. It is super smooth with sweet notes from the grain. It can be drunk by itself or used in your favourite cocktails. The coffee liqueur is a limited release made with coffee beans from Tanna islands, Vanuatu. The beans have been roasted to perfection by Master Roaster Frank Kingston just for this batch. We used raw cane sugar from Fiji to sweeten this liqueur. Both products are priced reasonably at 3000vt for the vodka and 4000vt for the coffee liqueur Buy in our online shop or visit one of our local retailers. Suggested Cocktail One of the most simple and most satisfying cocktail to do with a coffee liqueur is a White Russian. It’s a classic, perfectly suited for a holiday night of celebration. White Russian 30 ml 83 Islands Coffee Liqueur 60 ml 83 Islands Vodka 30 ml Heavy Cream or Milk Ice Fill an old fashion glass with ice, pour the coffee liqueur, vodka and top with heavy cream or milk. Enjoy! […]

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83 Islands Distillery makes premium craft rum and spirits using local Vanuatu ingredients. We are proud to make rum in Vanuatu and we hope that our bottles which are emblazoned with Vanuatu will be exported and enjoyed all over the world. Vanuatu is one of the cleanest places on earth, with organic crops and untouched subtropical forests. When we started the distillery, we had the goal of showcasing the country and its people’s savoir-faire to the world by using as many local ingredients as possible. We are now distilling or infusing fruits such as pineapple and kombava. We extract kava to use in our spice rum featuring local vanilla and pepper. We are a young company and like Vanuatu did 40 years ago, we embarked on an incredible journey of growth. We hope that one day our rum will gain the maturity that Vanuatu has today. It seems appropriate to use this occasion to dream about the future of Vanuatu and 83 Islands Distillery. For us, the future means employing dozens, or even hundreds more ni-Vanuatu for planting and harvesting Vanuatu sugarcane. It means an equitable and sustainable relationship with farmers. It means having hundreds of tourists every day flying […]

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Rhum Agricole Vanuatu Made We are planting our first local sugarcane in order to be able to make a 100% made in Vanuatu Rhum Agricole in the classic French-style Rhum with a taste of the South Pacific. This Rhum Agricole is unaged and will be released as a limited first edition late 2020.  The plantation or lack thereof In November 2019 we planted our first sugarcane plantation in Vanuatu with limited success. We experienced a drought that killed most of the plantation. We relied instead on the wild sugarcane that is growing all around the island. Sugarcane was never a significant crop in Vanuatu and there was little use for it. Indeed, the sugar Industry never established itself in Vanuatu. Therefore we are currently relying on sugarcane that is growing naturally in the bush. More specifically in the Teouma Bush region of Efate Although not very far from the distillery geographically, access to Teouma Bush can be difficult which limit our capacity to crush large quantity of sugarcane in a day. Dry Season Harvest After this year’s experiment, we will harvest sugarcane for our next batch during the dry season of the winter from June to October. Our next harvests […]

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