About us
83 Islands Distillery is located just outside of Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu.
At the heart we are a craft rum distillery. We have been filling barrels and aging rum since 2019. We also make limited editions flavoured rums and gins and other spirits using local ingredients, most notably kava. We aim to open to the public for tours and tasting in our new tasting space by the end of 2021.
Our goal is to produce the highest quality rum and offer our clients total transparency in the production process and origin of ingredients. We are experimenting with various yeasts and creating multiple flavour profiles to showcase what craft rum is all about. Each bottle comes with a detailed description of our process.
We are currently working with local farmers to improve the sugarcane production on the island of Efate. Our 2020 Rhum Agricole is made with wild sugarcane, as there is no historical sugarcane plantation in the country even if Saccharum officinarum is originating from this part of the world, Melanesia. In the coming years, we will shift most of our production from molasses to sugarcane and create a new industry that will support hundreds of local families.
We age our rum in various types of casks imported from France and the United States. Our barrel inventory includes ex-Chardonnay and ex-Red Wine in French barrique made with American Oak, New and Used bourbon barrels from Kelvin Cooperage in Louisville, KY and a variety of South American Rum barrels, Rye and Brandy barrels from the United States.
Our South Pacific subtropical climate creates an exceptional environment for rum ageing. The high temperature and high humidity we experience means we lose a fair amount of rum every year but that helps us age our rum faster as the oxidative processes operates faster than a more temperate climate. Although Vanuatu sees very little temperature changes of the water that surrounds its islands during the year, hovering around 27 degrees Celsius, we do experience a significant seasonal temperature variation from 35 C during the summer to 18 C during our coolest winter nights.
