Vodka Viewing

Yesterday we started the day with a trip to the mall. It was fun to shop around a little.

After pizza for lunch, we dropped the kids off at my apartment and headed for the the vodka distillery here on the island. They give tours, and I’ve always wanted to go.

The tour was fun. Our guide was one of the best tour guides I’ve ever experienced. She made me want to invite her to have dinner with us. She was so personable and funny.

The distillery is cool. They have a master distiller who sounds really inventive and clever. Their process makes a really smooth vodka.

Those towers are for distilling.

The vodka is made from fermented sugar cane juice. They have many varieties on site, and in fact are doing their part to preserve some heirloom varieties. I thought that was super cool.

They all had a different look and, according to our tour guide, a different taste.

They let us actually go inside the distillery. It was so exciting to see the actual process instead of some mock-up or model.

The two silver tanks are a still and a blending tank.

And of course there was a tasting at the end. They make vodka and rum. We tasted both. I don’t usually drink either of those spirits, but these were good. I got a bottle of each to add to my home liquor supply.

Our tour-mates were fun people.

We ended the afternoon my making a quick trip to Lahaina. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time there, but we did walk Front Street and see the big banyan tree. Now we can check that off the list.