The Distillers

The St Helena Tungi Distillery is operated by two “hands-on” Directors, Donny Stevens (left) and Head Distiller Paul Hickling (right). Donny was born on the island and has considerable experience in the hospitality industry, having worked internationally in passenger shipping before creating and opening the world-famous Donny’s Bar on Jamestown Seafront in 1998. Donny is the distillery’s official ‘nose’ –utilising his acute sense of smell and taste to check and differentiate all of the Tungi product as it goes through the fermentation and production cycle.

Paul Hickling, originally from Wales, is married to a St Helenian and has been in business on the island for over seven years. With a career technical background in electronics, Paul also spent time working in the Falkland Islands. He trained in Germany and St Helena to become proficient as a qualified distiller, and now oversees every step of the Tungi process. His experimentation with different tungi fruit blends and progressive refinements in the distilling process during 2006 have produced the optimum flavour of today’s Tungi product which is ideal both for straight shot-drinking and for cocktails and combinations.