A Must-Visit Location in St. Thomas (even if you don’t drink)
100% St. Thomas
No more lies. Dang near every distillery these days has some gimmick or false narrative or made up story. We don’t, we do it all here in St. Thomas. Our Rum, vodka and gin is fermented, distilled, aged and bottled onsite.
Not sure if you like local, but this is about as local as you can get. (Should we also mention that the owner is a local West-Indian, Island woman?)
You Can Only Get it Here
The only way to experience our rum is to visit our distillery in Old Town Charlotte Amalie.
You have to come where we make it. We do tastings and we only sell our rum here on site. We could be in every store on island but what’s the fun in that. To visit us and see how and where we make it you can either stop by (our hours are typically Monday thru Friday from 10 am to 2 pm) or take a town tour & tasting with Blue Mango Tours.
200 Years of History
Our distillery lives in an old Danish, colonial-era slave house. The slaves that lived here were making their own moonshine long before “craft distilleries” were a thing. And now we are carrying on their tradition. We are making hard spirits and having as much fun as we can. And we’d like to think those folks had a little fun too. So even if you don’t drink you can stop by to enjoy the history, artifacts, learn about the process or just to relax in the tropical gardens.
3 Queens Distillery — 200 Years of Spirit
200 Years of Spirit
The story of 3 Queens Distillery — from colonial slave house to Caribbean craft legend
Danish Colonial Era
Fireburn & Resistance
American Era
Restoration
3 Queens Today
Danish Colonial
c. 1700s
A Corsican merchant empire takes root
Wealthy Corsican merchant families establish a sprawling estate on Back Street — 13 Wimmelskafts Gade — in the heart of what would become Charlotte Amalie. The main structure serves as quarters for enslaved workers who tended the estate and its holdings across St. Thomas.
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Danish Colonial
1800s
Spirits born in secret
Long before “craft distilling” was a concept, the enslaved people living in this very building were fermenting and distilling their own spirits — homemade rum and bush liquor made from surplus cane and island botanicals. These were not just drinks; they were community, celebration, and a small act of sovereignty within bondage. The tradition of making spirits on this site is older than the nation that now governs these islands.
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Danish Colonial
July 3, 1848
Emancipation declared — but freedom is incomplete
After years of pressure and a massive labor uprising in Frederiksted, Danish Governor Peter von Scholten declares all enslaved people in the Danish West Indies free. But freedom is a technicality. The Danish government immediately enacts labor laws that bind formerly enslaved workers to one-year contracts on the same plantations, for fixed wages, with no right to leave the island. The walls change; the chains do not.
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Fireburn
Oct. 1, 1878
The Fireburn — three queens lead the revolt
On Contract Day — the one day a year workers could change employers — laborers in Frederiksted, St. Croix had finally had enough. Led by three extraordinary women — Mary Thomas (Queen Mary), Axeline Salomon (Queen Agnes), and Mathilda McBean (Queen Mathilda) — thousands rose up, setting fire to over 50 plantations and much of Frederiksted. Nearly 900 acres burned. These three women, who became known simply as The Three Queens, were later arrested, sentenced, and imprisoned in Copenhagen. They gave everything for freedom. 3 Queens Distillery carries their names.
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American Era
1917
Denmark sells the islands to the United States
The United States purchases the Danish West Indies — St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix — for $25 million in gold. The islands are renamed the U.S. Virgin Islands. Charlotte Amalie becomes an American town, though its streets, buildings, and culture remain deeply Creole, Danish, and African. The old slave house on Back Street stands through the transfer, holding its history in its stone walls.
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Restoration
2020s
Amber & Island Mike restore the old walls
Amber — a native Virgin Islander and one of the only Black women in the world who owns and operates her own distillery — and her husband, Island Mike, discover the old slave house on 13 Wimmelskafts Gade and recognize something rare: a place where history, resistance, and the tradition of making spirits all live in the same building. They begin restoring it, painstakingly, into a working craft distillery.
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3 Queens Today
Today
The only 100% St. Thomas distillery
3 Queens Distillery is the only craft distillery in St. Thomas that ferments, distills, ages, bottles, and labels entirely on-site — and sells exclusively in the Virgin Islands. Named for Queen Mary, Queen Agnes, and Queen Mathilda, every bottle carries the legacy of the Three Queens who refused to stay silent. Come taste that history. It’s made right here.
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Our Spirit Showcase
Spirits Handcrafted in St. Thomas
Four spirits. One island. Every drop fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled right here at 13 Wimmelskafts Gade — and sold nowhere else on earth.
4 Original Spirits
100% Made in St. Thomas
1 place to taste them
1 place to buy them
1. Dark Rum
An extremely dark rum. A sipping rum for the ages.
Flavors: Oak, smoke and molasses
You can use this as a mixer or in a frozen drink. Anything you touch with this rum is elevated.
But our recommendation: pour two fingers worth, sit down with, and take your time.
Unlike any gin you’ve had before — because it couldn’t exist anywhere else. Our big, fragrant lemongrass is grown right outside our door. Bright and tropical.
Exclusive to the Virgin Islands
3. Sugarcane Vodka
No grain. No potato. Just pure island demerara sugar.
This is as clean and smooth as it gets. Tito’s corn ain’t got nothing on our dark demerara. Recognize.
Most of the world makes vodka from grain, potatoes, beets or corn. We’ve got nothing against tradition. But we think our vodka changes everything. Clean, slightly silky with a hidden sweetness that grain vodkas simply can’t replicate.
Exclusive to the Virgin Islands
4. Coffee Liqueur
3 Queens Coffee Liqueur
Rum-based coffee liqueur. Made with our own roasted coffee beans.
This is what happens when you combine two things the islands do brilliantly: rum and coffee. We have our own roastery in the distillery so we age the beans right in our rum barrels. This is the Circle of Life.
Get ready for the Espresso Martini or White Russian of your life. That’s a promise.
Exclusive to the Virgin Islands
Come Drink with Us!
How to Get To 3 Queens Distillery
3 Queens Distillery — Getting Here from Your Ship
Getting to 3 Queens from your ship
We’re right in the heart of Old Town Charlotte Amalie — easy to reach from both cruise docks.
3 Queens — 13 Wimmelskafts Gade, Old Town
Charlotte Amalie Harbor — St. Thomas, USVI
Havensight Dock
~1.5 mi
from 3 Queens
5–7 min by taxi (~$5/person)
20–25 min walk possible
Walk through downtown on the way back
NCL, Carnival, Celebrity typically dock here
Crown Bay Dock
~2 mi
from 3 Queens
5–10 min by taxi (~$5/person)
Walk not recommended (no safe footpath)
Taxis queue right at the dock exit
Holland America, Princess, Royal Caribbean
Cruise day tip
Tell your taxi driver “3 Queens Distillery on Back Street” — every driver knows us. Plan about 45–60 minutes for your tour and tasting, and leave yourself at least 90 minutes before your ship’s all-aboard time. Taxis back to both docks are easy to hail anywhere in Old Town.
