Clark's Court Sugar Factory
The machinery which unloaded the cane from the field to be reduced into sugar.
The business end of the sugar mill used to extract the juice from the cane.
The steam powered crusher and mill which crushed the cane so dry that it could be burned in the boiler to produce the steam used in the plant to power the machinery and to remove the water from the juice to produce the sugar.
Although this equipment is presently preserved by the distillery as a museum, for large tour groups they power it up so that the guests can see it in operation.
The furnace which burned the "bougase" (ie.) the crushed sugar cane to produce the steam.
The equipment used to bleach the brown sugar into the white sugar we are now used to.
"Clark's Court Sugar Factory"
That's what this place was called and what it produced until about six or seven years ago. Then the price of the flat land required for the cultivation of sugar cane became too valuable for farm use. The demands of hotels and resort development forced most of the available land here in the Southern portion of Grenada to be sold and sugar cane became rare in these parts.
At the time sugar cane was locally produced the factory did produce rum, basically as a by-product of the sugar production to accommodate the periods of excess production. Now the "Sugar Factory" is known as the Clark's Court Rum Distillery.
Here you can see a vat of molasses mash just about ready for the still. It takes about 400 gallons of this mash to make about 22 gallons of rum (approximately 90% alcohol or 180 proof).
This gentleman is adding the yeast to the molasses before the fermentation begins.
The finished product ready to be enjoyed, sometimes responsibly.
