Where is 3 Queens Distillery located?

3 Queens Distillery is located at 13 Wimmelskafts Gade (Back Street) in Old Town Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. It is housed inside a restored 18th-century Danish colonial slave house.

How do I get to 3 Queens Distillery from the cruise ship dock?

From Havensight Dock: approximately 1.5 miles, 5-7 minutes by taxi (about $5 per person). From Crown Bay Dock: approximately 2 miles, 5-10 minutes by taxi (about $5 per person). Tell your taxi driver 3 Queens Distillery on Back Street - every driver knows the location.

What are 3 Queens Distillery's hours?

3 Queens Distillery opens whenever a cruise ship is in port in Charlotte Amalie, including weekends. Typical weekday hours are Monday through Friday, 10am to 2pm. Call ahead at +1 (340) 201-6069 to confirm on any given day.

How much does a tasting cost at 3 Queens Distillery?

Tastings are $10 per person and include a guided tasting of all 3 Queens spirits, a tour of the rum-making process, and the history of the 200-year-old building.

What spirits does 3 Queens Distillery make and what do they cost?

3 Queens Distillery makes four handcrafted spirits, all 100% produced in St. Thomas: Dark Rum ($69) with oak, smoke, and molasses notes; Island Gin ($49) with citrus, herbal, and juniper flavors made with on-site botanicals including lemongrass; Sugarcane Vodka ($39) made from island demerara sugar; and Coffee Liqueur ($45), a rum-based liqueur made with rum-barrel-aged coffee beans roasted on-site.

Where can I buy 3 Queens rum?

3 Queens spirits are sold exclusively at the distillery in Old Town Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. They are not available in stores anywhere in the world — the only way to buy them is to visit.

Is 3 Queens Distillery good for non-drinkers or history lovers?

Yes. 3 Queens Distillery is housed in a historic 18th-century Danish colonial slave house with 200 years of history. Visitors can explore the building, learn about the enslaved workers who distilled spirits on this very site long before craft distilling existed, and walk the tropical gardens — even without drinking. It is a meaningful cultural and historical site in Charlotte Amalie.

Who owns 3 Queens Distillery?

3 Queens Distillery is owned and operated by Amber Ambrose, a native Virgin Islander and one of the only Black women in the world who owns and runs her own craft distillery. The distillery is named for Queen Mary (Mary Thomas), Queen Agnes (Axeline Salomon), and Queen Mathilda (Mathilda McBean) — the three women who led the 1878 Fireburn labor uprising in the Danish West Indies.

Is 3 Queens Distillery the oldest distillery in St. Thomas?

Yes. 3 Queens Distillery is the oldest distillery in St. Thomas, USVI, with roots going back approximately 10 years. The distillery has operated in its current historic location — a restored 18th-century colonial slave house at 13 Wimmelskafts Gade — for approximately one year.

Explore a historic Caribbean town

When visiting St. Thomas you’ll have no trouble finding the jewelry stores and tourist shops. They are everywhere. These are the same stores you can find on every other island and at every other cruise ship stop.

St. Thomas is the perfect port to experience the rich history of the Caribbean. And Charlotte Amalie, the historic town just minutes from the cruise ship docks, will reward you far better than a duty-free receipt.

Charlotte Amalie is one of the oldest port towns under the American flag, founded by Danish settlers in the 1670s – a 100 years before the founding of the USA. Old Town was shaped by three centuries of trade, empire, sugar, rebellion, and reinvention. The best part for anyone stepping off a cruise ship: all this history is a 5-minute taxi ride from the ship. And the entire town is walkable.

So you’ll be able to see all 6 of these landmarks in just a few hours – plenty of time to enjoy the beach afterwards or to grab lunch before heading back to the ship.

Here are the landmarks in the order I would recommend visiting each one:

1. Fort Christian — Start at the Biggest and Oldest

You can’t miss it, Fort Christian is the big red fortress on the waterfront and it’s the oldest standing structure in the entire U.S. Virgin Islands — the Danes built it in the 1670s. The Danes built it when St. Thomas was a tiny, colonial outpost.

Fort Christian was build to survive hurricanes, rivals and pirates…although in the last instance, it was actually more of a safe haven for pirates.

When open, you can tour the walls, rooms and along the parapet along the top of the fort. The walls are 3-6 feet thick and used to house a garrison, governor’s house, a church, courthouse and jail.

It’s a National Historic Landmark, and it’s the right place to begin your exploration of Charlotte Amalie because everything else in town radiates out from here.

Cruiser tip: $10 Admission. Most of the safari taxis at the ship will bring you right to the fort. Give yourself 30-45 minutes to explore the fort. It is only open M-F from 8 am – 5 pm.

2. Emancipation Garden — Where History is Made

Right beside the fort sits a modest, shady square that most people walk straight through without knowing the significance of where they’re standing. Emancipation Garden marks July 3, 1848 — the day slavery was declared over in the Danish West Indies, a full fifteen years before Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation reached the mainland. Again, this was when St. Thomas and Charlotte Amalie were a Danish colony.

Look for the Freedom statue: a man raising a conch shell to his lips, blowing the call that summoned people to rise. There’s a replica of the Liberty Bell here too, and a little white bandstand where you’ll sometimes catch a festival or a local concert. It’s a quiet spot, but worth strolling slowly through. Check out the tamarind tree in one corner – if your timing is right the tree will be chock full of them.

Cruiser tip: A 1-minute walk across the street from Fort Christian. Sit a moment under the old trees and watch the chickens running around.

3. St. Thomas Synagogue — Open to the Public

A few blocks over from Main Street, on Crystal Gade, is one of the most quietly remarkable buildings in the Caribbean. Formally named Beracha Veshalom Vegimiluth Hasidim — “Blessing and Peace and Loving Deeds” — the St. Thomas Synagogue has a congregation dating to 1796 and a sanctuary completed in 1833. That makes it the second-oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere and the oldest in continuous use under the American flag.

Step inside and you’ll notice the floor is sand. The sand, most likely, honors the medieval Sephardic Jews who muffled their footsteps to worship in secret during the Inquisition and it echoes the forty years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. Only a handful of synagogues on earth still keep this tradition. For a history traveler, this a super cool stop for anyone of any religious persuasion.

Cruiser tip: Free to visit and open to the public, with 10-15 minute docent tours. Modest dress appreciated. 5-minutes on foot from Emancipation Garden up a hill with a modest incline.

4. 3 Queens Distillery — A Rum Distillery & Garden

After you leave The Synagogue, hang a right and make your way to the top of the hill. Then you’ll walk down the back side of the hill which will dump into Wimmelskafts Gade (aka “Back Street”). Figure on a 3-4 minute walk, you’ll then arrive at 13 Wimmelskafts Gade – the home of 3 Queens Distillery.

From the street there’s no indication what lies inside. But once you step through the door you are transported back 200 years to Danish colonial times. The 2 ½ foot thick masonry walls are made of local rock and imported brick. No fire or hurricane is going to mess with these walls.

The tasting room and distillery are inside but the real prize is the gorgeous tropical garden behind the building. Grab your drink and relax under the shade of a palm tree or other tropical fauna. An oasis in bustling town.

This could be best spot for true, local souvenirs – the spirits, coffee and hot sauce are all made on site. 3 Queens is one of the only manufacturers of local goods on the island. Take home a true piece of the islands.

Cruiser tip: The distillery is right around the corner from Main Street which is the main tourist section. You should plan on spending 30-45 minutes for a rum tasting, browse the mini museum and to just sit and soak up the Caribbean breezes. Free Admission.

5. The 99 Steps — Streets Made of Ballast

Charlotte Amalie is built into steep hillsides, and the Danish engineers who laid it out had a problem: you can’t pave a cliff. Their solution was the “step-street” — staircases that function as roads — and the most famous of them is the 99 Steps on Government Hill.

The steps are made from a brick that comes from present day Germany. It has a distinctive yellowish color. The bricks crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the belly of the ships as ballast in the 1700 and 1800s. The bricks were unloaded and rum and sugar took its place in the holds of the ship.

Cruiser tip: It’s a climb, but a pretty one, lined with flowers. Take your time, this will be your workout for the day.

6. Blackbeard’s Castle — The View Is the Reward

At the top of the steps stands Skytsborg — “Sky Tower” — a stone watchtower the Danes built in 1670s to spot enemy ships slipping toward the harbor. The ‘castle’ has nothing to do with Blackbeard (made up legend by locals). But it is one of the island’s National Historic Landmarks all the same.

The views of town are lovely. You’ll be able to look back at your cruise ship and get amazing photos. There is a swimming pool and bar for a leisurely afternoon. This is a perfect ending to your day in town. You can walk back to where you started in about 6-7 minutes or you can grab a taxi right back to the ship.

Cruiser tip: Free Admission. You can easily turn this last stop into an hour or two…but don’t miss your ship!

The quick recap:

Time needed: All told, you can easily visit all 6 landmarks in 2-3 hours but why rush. Visiting this historic town is worth moving on “island time”. There are so many photo opportunities along the way and little diversions, so take your time.
Route: Fort Christian → Emancipation Garden → St. Thomas Synagogue → 3 Queens Distillery → 99 Steps → Blackbeard’s Castle .

The tourist shops and jewelry stores will still be there after you finish your walk. But the history — the forts and distilleries and the iconic steps and the gardens — that’s the thing you’ll actually be telling people about when you get home.