Royal delegation visits La Plaine St André |25 March 2023

Their Majesties with members of the Takamaka team

His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden and Her Majesty Queen Sylvia on Tuesday visited La Plaine St André, the home of Takamaka Rum.

The delegation enjoyed a private tour by the founding Seychellois brothers, Richard and Bernard d’Offay, who presented them with a bottle of their limited edition Le Clos St André series.

It is engraved with a personalized message to Their Majesties as memorabilia of their visit to the distillery.

Bottled at cask strength of 60% abv, this single barrel expression only yielded 320 bottles and is made of 100% sugar cane rum from Seychelles, aged in Czech oak barrels for 3 and a half years and each bottle is numbered by the distiller.

A small wooden stand below the bottle holds a secret compartment housing a few locally made Seychelles souvenirs.

“We felt really honoured to host The King and Queen of Sweden at La Plaine St André and wish their Majesties a relaxing holiday in Seychelles,” said Richard.

“Takamaka Rum is not available in Sweden yet, but they can find many Takamaka products in Norway when they finish the bottle of Le Clos,” added Bernard with a smile.

Down in one of the cask cellars, they tasted a 3-year-old local sugarcane rum straight from a French oak cask and Steven Rioux, Takamaka’s Blender, introduced them to a few more samples in the ‘Pti Lakaz’ tasting room.

“His Majesty especially enjoyed the double maturation cane rum from our Virgin French Oak and seasoned Peneau Blanc Des Charentes French oak cask,” shared Steven.

Takamaka Distillery has grown tremendously since its launch in 2002 and proudly calls itself the islands’ favourite rum as well as exporting to 42 countries around Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.