St Lucia Rum Tasting and Tour

We were promptly met by our driver tour guide and his son who took us on a run through a couple of parts of St lucia before arriving at our first destination of the rum distillery of St lucia. The rum tour was brief with 2 quick videos and then a run though the rum making process being shown the machinery they use and every stage through the process. It was a basic and quick tour, after you are free to sample a selection of rums to see if any meets your preference ( careful at this point as they have different strengths and you could walk away pretty drunk if your not cautious) after you can go to the shop if you choose to purchase the rums. Be advised they are mainly cheaper than the shops you may visit elsewhere so keep that in mind if you want bottles of bounty, marigot bay or chairman's reserve! After we were taken to the Castries shopping market and left to our own devices for an hour to discover and purchase anything you like. Don't be afraid to say no if your not interested as you shouldn't get hassled and move on to the next part. One half mainly has the same types of souvenirs available, if you cross the road you will have more wooden gifts, paintings and a food market.. there is also a duty free shopping area so take a photocopy of your passport to get the discount I hope this review is helpful to most as this is an honest review and account of our trip

Some many rums to try, learned a lot and learned so much about the banana plantations from our driver.

The rum tour and tasting was awesome - you get to see the rum distillery up close and our tour guide at The distillery was very knowledgeable. Stan, our driver from Barefoot Holidays, was great - kept things moving and was on time for pickup and very pleasant. The tour lasted about 3.5 hours with pickup and drop off from the hotel

We found ourselves sharing the transportation with three of the most obnoxious and selfish people I have had the misfortune to come across. The three women were from New York and were loud and lewd. The foul language they were uttering every other word showed no respect for us and the driver. We felt really sorry for him as he behaved impeccably in the face of this onslaught. They insisted that we stop for a photo opportunity, snacks/drinks and KFC on the way to and returning from the distillery. When we arrived at the distillery they we shocked to find that they needed face masks, like everywhere on the island. They started screaming and shouting looking for the driver to berate him that they hadn’t been warned and wanted their money back. We gave them some spare masks just to shut them up and save the driver from more harassment. However, this wasn’t reason for the low score, in fact the courtesy and behaviour of the driver bumped it up to 2 stars. The tour was very disappointing. We were escorted to see 6 deep vats with fermenting rum then down to stand by some distilling equipment with a 5 minute talk on how rum is made. There was a short video and then a row of different rums to taste. The tour was moderately informative and over in a flash. We then we given 45minutes at Castries market (partly down to the antics or the fellow passengers from hell) which was nowhere near enough time. We decided to stay longer in Castries so spent additional money on a cab back to Rodney Bay. It was worth it not to spend another minute with our insufferable American travel companions.

Only real good part was the person that took us to the rum tasting giving history of island as we drove to the rum tasting

Our tour guide Vincent truly made this tour worth it . Picked us up at our hotel and took us on an engaging tour along the island to the Rum Distillery. Stopped at a few sites for photos (Marigot Bay, Local University, coconut tasting). The rum tour was fine . Very quick introduction and tour of the distillery. The rum tasting was the highlight . Plenty of options to taste from . Would recommend (if only for Vincent’s tour ).

Very good tour. William the tour guide made the trip very enjoyable. He’s amazing. Main thing to remind when booking never call the call always email back the same email in which you book. There’s some miscommunication somewhere. Will definitely visit this tour again. Brought lots of rum on my way back home

William is an excellent tour guide! He was fun and entertaining. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip learning many facts about St Lucia on our way to the Rum Distillery. And we can’t say enough about the excellent driving skills of Sammy! We highly recommend this tour.

What a wonderful private tour with Vincent to enjoy the rum distillery tour as well as other sights along the way. He was very conscious of what we might want to do on the way to and from the distillery, including a road side stop where Vincent bought us a fresh coconut for a wonderful taste of the coconut water. We ended up with a guide at the distillery that was very hard to understand, but the tour was still amazing!

What a great day!! Our tour guide, Sammy, was one of the best we have had on any of the Islands we have visited, and there have been many!! His knowledge of the island was superb and his anecdotal stories kept us in stitches. Not only did we do all that was on the stated itinerary, Sammy took us up to where the Universities are located and pointed out the differences to us in the building styles of the French and the English during their varying and alternating periods of occupation. Then it was off to a vendor of the many banana products and by-products produced on the island by the vibrant banana industry that thrives here, having overtaken the once dominant sugar cane industry. From there we went to the distillery where we learned the fine art of making rum from sugar cane and molasses. Once educated, we had the opportunity to sample some of St. Lucia's finest, and they surely were fine. Sammy coaxed me in to trying a shot of the DOUBLE, 160 proof rum, before we left, Boy, will will that set you back on the seat of your pants!!! From the distillery we cruised back to Castries for a 20 minutes tour of the open air market; quite the experience!! Then we went to lunch ( also not on the schedule) at the Coal Pot for a very enjoyable lunch to conclude our tour. For the price, this is a tour not to be missed, Sammy was just fantastic and we do this tour again with him as the guide.