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| English Harbor, Antigua Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
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| Antilles Distilling Company - English Harbor, Antigua Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
OUR TRAVELING companions on the prior 3 trips live in Buffalo, New York (a/k/a "The North Pole" 😀), so this 12 - day respite from snow, ice and freezing temperatures is a true Caribbean Vacation for them. They spend most at sea days in the sun by the pool, and most port stops involve a trip to a nice beach. In 2025 and this year, that is what they did. We live on the Florida gulf coast which is like living in the Caribbean year-round. And as we get older, we are not really "beach people." So this year, I found another tasting experience, this one labeled a "spirits distillery."
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| Antilles Distilling Tasting Area and Distillery Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
ANTILLES DISTILLING Company was really tucked away down in English Harbor, near the southern tip of Antigua. English Harbor was Great Britain's Naval Base, commanded by the famous Admiral Lord Nelson, on Antigua. It was originally set up by the British to "police" the American ships that attempted to trade with Antigua. Today, there is a national park there, and also a quite "ritzy" development of wealthy residential housing and fancy hotels, bars, and restaurants. It is also the site of one of the world's most prestigous sailing regatta's: Antigua Sailing Week, with upwards of 100 racing sailboats participating and hundreds of other pleasure boats in the harbor area during the week. But the distilling company is northeast of the harbor, up in the hills in a quiet, middle class residential area. It wasn't easy to find as we wound our way up into the mountainside and it was only with the assistance of some very small, handmaid blue fish signs that we ultimately did find it.
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| Antilles Distilling Company - English Harbor, Antigua Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
THE COMPANY, much like Clifton Rums, did a lot of blending. But in this instance they did distill much of their base alchohol from different plant materials. Antilles does not make rum, choosing to stay out of that very competitive Caribbean craft. Instead, they concentrated on mainly clear liquors (basically vodka and gin or some variation), infusing them with locally grown (in their own garden) botanicals. It was a very interesting process. The liquors we tasted did not really appeal to me for the most part, though they did serve us the equivalent of a couple mixed drinks that were not bad. All the products were bottled, canned or otherwise prepared on-site and packaged in colorful containers, whose artwork was all designed by the proprietor's wife. We purchased one liter bottle of one of their "Lemongrass" spirit, which, when mixed with something like a lemon simple syrup, or perhap some Limoncello, made a kind of tasty cocktail. We also bought a coffee liquor that we will probably use to make espresso martinis one day. The site was beautiful, and it was another interesting day.
