Exclusive Interview with Pierre-Luc Chabot and Martin St-Hilaire Owners and Founders of 83 Islands Distillery

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Q: What are your full names, titles, company name and company location?

Pierre-Luc Chabot, Head Distiller, Founder/Owner and Martin St-Hilaire, Founder/Owner. Our rum name is 83 Islands, the Distillery is 83 Islands Distillery and the company itself is The Distillery Company. We are located in Port Vila, Vanuatu on the island of Efate, in a location called Stella Mare. 

Q: What inspired you to get into the spirits industry and why rum?

Pierre-Luc:  I remember being introduced to Scotch whisky by a friend in my late 20s and thinking it was the most extraordinary thing in the world. After teaching at a university for some years, I was ready for a new challenge and whisky making started to occupy more and more places in my mind. Back then, there were almost no craft distilleries in Canada and the dream of making any spirit seemed unreachable. Little did I know, my sister, Marie Eve Chabot, and brother-in-law, Martin St-Hilaire, had the same idea of making spirits. They had been living on the other side of the world in Vanuatu for the past decade. After 6 months of discussions, research and reading, I was making preparations to move permanently to Vanuatu.

Rum wasn’t on my radar at the time because… I probably didn’t know what rum could taste like. I was drawn to rum because it didn’t make sense to make any other spirits on an island that grows sugarcane. I wanted to make a spirit that represents the essence of Vanuatu, the season and really the moment in which it is distilled. Rum is an extraordinary spirit and I hope that craft rum will become more popular and more common in the years to come.   

Q: Where did you gain your knowledge about the spirits industry and in particular, rum? 

Pierre-Luc: Initially, I read a lot about alcohol and spirits. Then I started to do small-scale experiments. It made me realize that I needed to read more about fermentation, yeast and distilling. There is a lot of material out there which can help a lot, but this project involved me leaving my job and my country, so I decided to go to Moonshine University in Louisville for a week just to make sure I was committed. 

The distiller’s course was eye opening and made me realize that even after two years of reading, I knew very little about making alcohol and the spirits industry. We decided to follow up with the distiller’s operation course, the fermentation workshop and the rum course given by Luis and Margaret Ayala of The Rum University. Each of those were incredibly valuable, especially the rum course. There is no substitute for learning from people that have a long experience with the product and the industry. 

Q: Are you the first (legal) rum distillery in Vanuatu?

Pierre-Luc:  Yes, we founded the distillery in 2016 and we started our first test batch in 2017 in a small pot still. It took us quite some time to set up our 500L pot still. Starting a distillery in a developing country, where everything needs to be imported, was a complex endeavor. Since then, we have filled almost 100 barrels and pretty soon we will open to tourists and will be the only distillery in the 83 islands of Vanuatu that you can visit and enjoy a tasting of locally made and aged rum.

Martin:  Vanuatu is an organic paradise as the islands are a mix between coral and volcanic island, their size are bigger than most Caribbean islands but much smaller than the one where you have industrial farming as it is not flat and big enough. This is why there was no rum distillery in Vanuatu before we started the discussion about this project. Since, and about the same time as us, the local brewer also started experimenting with spirits and liquors. 

Hopefully, we can create a new craft industry for Vanuatu.

Q: Can you describe the process of working with the local authorities in order to get the permit approved for the distillery?  How long did it take?

Pierre-Luc:  In Vanuatu the local authorities were quite accommodating. There is a huge need for the diversification of the economy in Vanuatu and I think the local government saw value in our project. The process to get the permits were pretty straightforward. We actually got most permits after 3 to 6 months. The most difficult permit to get was the custom-controlled area permit to be able to store our bottled products duty-free. We only got this one recently in 2020.

Q: You’ve decided to take a Rhum Agricole approach to produce your rums. Can you describe your sugarcane, as well as, your fermentation process and distillation equipment?

Pierre-Luc:  That’s a good question. We are not exactly sure what varieties of sugarcane we are using right now. The Ministry of Agriculture says they have at least 6 varieties but classify them only by colour Red Sugar cane (white flesh), Green Yellow Sugar cane (white flesh), etc.). We are in the process of identifying those varieties with a renowned lab and we know from talking to farmers on different islands that there are many more varieties than just the 6 in Vanuatu. 

Martin:  Right now, we are using wild sugarcane.  It can’t get more organic than that.  There is no existing sugarcane plantation in Vanuatu, so we get what is grown without human intervention in a humid, tropical forest.

Pierre-Luc:  As far as we understand, the strain used for sugar production in the Caribbean was imported a long time ago from our part of the world, Melanesia. We think we might have some original and unique varieties on our 83 islands, maybe some long lost sugarcane strains and hopefully some that make great rum. We are committed to the “Terroir” and we are working closely with local farmers to develop a sustainable sugarcane growing industry that can supply our needs.

Pierre-Luc:  Right now, we are producing molasses rum and Rhum Agricole. For Rhum Agricole, we cut and crush one variety of sugarcane within 24 hours. We pitch our yeast directly to the undiluted cane juice in our 2000L closed tank fermenters. For the molasses rum, we pasteurize our molasses and cool it down by adding water. We keep our fermenters at 32° C which involves a lot of cooling in our subtropical climate. We are currently doing very long fermentations between 5 and 10 days and we get very good results, but we haven’t committed to a specific recipe yet. I’m always optimizing and testing out new ideas. We have a very solid record keeping and we hope to be able to have this information available online when we start selling our products. 

Pierre-Luc:  Before purchasing the still, I visited a distillery quite frequently and made sure to taste the rum made with the same equipment. We are distilling with a 528L steam jacketed Mueller pot still from Germany. It is an incredible machine, fast, precise with high reproducibility from one batch to the other. The manufacturer also promised that we would be able to distill 2000L in an 8-hour day shift. Their representative, Frank Deiter, agreed to travel 10,000 km to come and make sure we set it up correctly. With more than 400 distillations behind us, I could not be happier with our purchase. 

Q: Kava is a traditional drink enjoyed throughout the South Pacific; some scholars suggest it actually originated in (Northern) Vanuatu. Are you planning to flavour any of your rums with this traditional plant?

Pierre-Luc:  Kava is a very important drink in Vanuatu. It is known for its relaxing and numbing effects. We often say that it’s used in official ceremonies but in Vanuatu it is consumed daily. It is not uncommon for friends to meet for a “shell” or two after work to relax. We are planning on using Kava in a special spiced rum that will only be available in Vanuatu. We are using a process to extract the active kavalactone using rum. We then clarify it creating a beautiful golden spirit. It’s a unique way to taste Kava as it removes the “muddiness” that is often associated with it. But it’s not for everyone as it is one of the most bitter tasting beverages one can find and will numb your taste buds for up to an hour. 

Q: When we last saw the two of you, you were ready to scale up your rum production, but then the Covid-19 epidemic hit. How did it change your plans and how were you able to adapt?

Pierre-Luc:  Before the pandemic, we were scaling up for retail and tours. Since the majority of our tourists are from cruise ships, we decided to postpone our entry into the market. We decided to concentrate on filling barrels for the time being and started construction on a separate bar and tasting space as well as a retail space and more barrel storage.

In Vanuatu, the government was quick to require all businesses to set up sanitizing or hand-washing stations. Vanuatu is not a high priority on the global supply chain so after a week it was almost impossible to find hand sanitizer in the country. We quickly changed production to hand sanitizer. We gave and sold more than 3,000 liters. The country’s main hospital ran out of ethanol, so we supplied them with our pure alcohol we had in stock for making gin. We now keep a stock of alcohol for hand sanitizer and we plan to continue selling pure alcohol to some local resellers and we found out that our local pharmacists and hospital are interested in continuing to purchase from us.

Q: What is the current status in Vanuatu, regarding the quarantine?

Pierre-Luc:  It is worth nothing that Vanuatu is one of the very few countries in the world where we never had a case of Covid-19. The country closed its border fairly early and it’s easier to keep the virus out when you are a remote island in the South Pacific. Our direct neighbors, New Zealand is now virus-free and Australia should follow soon. Hopefully, the country will reopen soon. 

Martin:  Since 50% of the economy in Vanuatu is supported by tourism, closing the border really hit the people of Vanuatu hard. 

Pierre-Luc:  Moreover, during the first month of the quarantine, the northern islands were hit by a catastrophic category 5 cyclone. Needless to say, the quarantine made the rescue efforts really difficult.

Q: What rum(s) are you currently producing?

Pierre-Luc:  We are currently producing a variety of rums. 83 Islands Rhum Agricole, which is made with locally grown sugarcane. We are aging 83 Islands Single Barrel Rum that will be released by the end of the year starting with rum aged in Chardonnay and red wine barrels from France. Following up with rum aged in American Brandy and Bourbon barrels. We expect to have a Blended Aged Rum early next year.We are also producing a spiced rum with vanilla and a local nut we call nangai. Vanuatu cacao is world class and each island makes its own single origin cacao. Making a cacao nibs infused rum was high in our priority list and this should be a very popular product. 

These specialty products will be available for tourist who visit our premise and for local events at the distillery. Our aim is to export precious barrel aged rum and Agricole Rhum.

Q: Aside from rum, do you have other spirits in your portfolio?

Pierre-Luc:  We are making a Kombava Gin with local variety of Kaffir lime we call Kombava. 

Q: Where are your products currently available for purchase?

Pierre-Luc:  Our products will be available for sale by the end of the year in Vanuatu and on our website. We are not sure yet if we will be available to ship worldwide, but we are looking to distribute in our regional markets of Australia, New Zealand and we want to be in Europe by 2022. 

Q: Do you have plans to produce additional rums?

Pierre-Luc:  We are working on a Kava spice rum as well and more flavored rums that feature our local products. We also want to make a pineapple infused rum using natural flavors. 

Q: Are you at the stage where you are offering tours? If so, are reservations recommended/required? 

Pierre-Luc:  We will be offering tours by the end of the year with reservations available on our website. 

Q: Can you tell us a bit about what a customer will experience when they arrive at your distillery?

Martin:  We are working hard to create a unique experience for our guests. We are conscious that we will get visitors that might visit a distillery for the first time and people who are non-drinkers. Having visited so many distilleries over the past years, it is important for us to create a tour experience that is interesting and informative for everyone. Vanuatu is a paradise for spices, tropical fruits and nuts. A part of the tour will present the flavor of Vanuatu, vanilla, pepper, cacao, citrus, lime, cane juice, pineapple, soursop and many others. We want to bring people closer to the pleasure of tasting sweet, sour, bitter and various flavours.

We plan on having different kinds of tours that will go deeper and be more informative on the production side and we will have tours that will focus more on the tasting. 

Q: If people want to contact you, how may they reach you? 

Pierre-Luc/Martin:  We invite people to reach out through our website at https://83islands.com and our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/83IslandsDistillery/

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Pierre-Luc:  Vanuatu is a great destination to visit and we hope you’ll consider us when international travels resume. If you can’t make it, please contact us and we will do our best to have our products available close to you. 

Margaret: Again Pierre-Luc and Martin, thank you so much for this interview and I wish you and your team much success.