Engenhos do Norte

The distillery sits beside the sea at Porto da Cruz on Madeira's north coast and is one of the last sites in Europe to press sugar cane for spirit. Cane grown on the island is crushed and the juice fermented before distilling in a column still, giving an agricole style of rum that Madeirans call aguardente de cana. The old steam engine and mill are kept as a working museum. The cane is also processed into cane honey, and the rums are sold young and white as well as aged in wood.