4 | St. Vincent Distillers
tling commercial center on the island’s south
leeward coast, while the Grenadines include
some of the most popular and exclusive tour-
ist destinations in the world – Mustique, Be-
quia, Palm Island, Union Island and Petit
St. Vincent, to name a few. Those two fac-
tors, combined with a history steeped in the
struggle between the Caribs, the French and
the British, have made St. Vincent a fiercely
independent nation.
It achieved independence from Great
Britain in 1979 and since then has been
struggling to find an identity. Of equal im-
portance is the fact that St. Vincent lies 90
miles due west of Barbados, an island syn-
onymous with rum for much of its history.
Like many Caribbean islands where sugar
cane once played a major role, rum is an im-
