What a Tour, that world famous Cruzan Rum!

Anyone can tour the Cruzan Rum Factory, located on the west end of St. Croix, for $4 a pop.  Pretty good deal.  In a nut shell, this is why this tour was so good:

• April, our tour guide was friendly & knowledgeable.
• the tour lasted about 20 minutes.
• the tour was very informative.
• you see EVERYTHING on this tour.  I mean EVERYTHING!  They guys have to literally stop working to let    the group go through!  I was shocked!

• you get to sample the famous rum at the end of the tour in the visitor’s center.
• the employees will Package your purchase. so you can check it at the airport.

Nothing stands between you and the giant vats of simmering liquid.  Nothing stands between you and the rickety-old metal stairs you climb straight up (and then straight down!)  You walk the same cat walk the CR employees walk to test the “waters” for quality.  You walk right over the steaming waste product flowing under ground on its way to being processed for further use.  You stand in the warehouse that houses the charcoal-ed rum barrels stacked 7 high, their belly’s awaiting the sweet liquid.  You walk right into the production house where you can talk to the gentleman with a giant hose pumping the rum into barrels, or at least I did!  This production is happening all around us- it was so cool!  I felt like we were getting a special tour; no way would they let people this close to their precious rum production!  But, everyone receives this “special treatment”.  That IS the tour.  This is the REAL DEAL.

This tour really is for everyone, even my 16 mos old, who was very well behaved on top of her on Daddy’s Shoulders; and the young boy who seemed to be around 6 or 7.  It really kept his attention, and you could tell he was into the giant machinery all over the place, hoses, men working….Our tour group had tourists, locals (us and Shoshana from Dr. Berkeley’s office), kids, adults and even a senior citizen or two.

It is not about whether you drink or like Cruzan Rum; in fact, when I asked April, our tour guide, her favorite flavor, she responded with “I don’t drink.”  But she knew her stuff and had a response for EVERY question inquisitive cousin Kyle had to ask.  It is about seeing the production, the real production, of a product that is for the most part, still locally made on St. Croix (they do send it to Florida for distribution and to add the yummy flavors such as mango, banana, and pineapple).  It was hands down, the best $4 I have spent on St. Croix in over 5 years of living here, even better than the vanilla-rum daiquiri at Rum Runners.

The Scoop:  There is not an age requirement to take the tour; but you must be 18 or older to sample the rum (or to drink anywhere on St. Croix- proper ID required).  The cost is $4 for adults and free for children under 6 years of age.  Tours are done Tuesday through Friday from 11:30 until 4:15.  You don’t need to call in advance, just show up; a new tour begins every  seven minutes or so.  There are stairs you have to climb up and go down, so take this into consideration if you are mobile-y challenged.

Since taking this tour, I have let everyone, and I mean everyone know how much fun it was.  I will be escorting all of my future guests there personally in the future.   If you are looking for a more detailed account of the production process itself, I recommend your read the story my friend Leslie wrote about it here.

Oh, ok- go make yourself a rum drink.  Check out Cruzan Rum’s official website for recipes and more.

- AH