Most brands of rum that you find in these islands are available in liquor stores at home, but some rums are truly exotic and cannot be purchased anywhere but the island on which they are distilled.  Rum is a natural product of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Barbados as it’s made from genuine sugarcane, the cash crop for so many years on the island’s plantations.  Some rums, such as those produced in Puerto Rico, Haiti, and some other Caribbean islands are made from molasses or other sugar by-product and some rum connoisseurs consider them inferior.  On Martinique in particular, rum has been elevated to a special status.  In 1996, Martinician rum was granted an AOC, Appelation d’Origine Contrôlée, not an easy award to win and one which guarantees that rum production is as strictly controlled as the production of the great wines of France.

     Many of these rums begin their life as sugar cane, which after harvesting is brought to a crushing station where a large water-powered wheel squishes the juice from the cane and sluices it the next stage of the process, the boiling room.  Here the cane juice is boiled at different temperatures in different tanks after which it is sloughed of to the fermentation and storage areas.  After aging the product is distilled and the final product is ready…rum.  This is the process in a nutshell, different distillers use different methods, this is only meant to give you an idea of the processes involved. 

     About 20 miles south of Guadeloupe is the tiny, 60 square mile, island of Marie Galante.  Marie Galante is often called the island of 100 windmills, however there are only 72 such historic mills remaining.  In their time, the windmills were often powered by animals instead of the wind to squeeze the juice out of the sugar cane.  Today, almost all the sugar cane on the island is processed into rum and Marie Galante has a special permit allowing it to create 59% pure rum, that’s 118 proof folks!

     Now let’s discuss the different kinds of rum you’ll find and what the labels mean, you may want to look for these classifications on the bottles when you shop, and believe me, you’ll find lots and lots of different bottles and brands of rum.  Rum that is made from sugarcane is given the name Rhum Agricole while rum distilled from molasses is referred to as Rhum Industrial.  White rum from sugar cane juice (vésou) is called Rhum Blanc Agricole, is not aged, and has a strong, some say rough taste and is best mixed into a punch such as Ti-punch which is popular on the French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.  Another favorite is Planter’s Punch, or Punch Planteur.

     What many consider the top of the line rum is Rum Vieux, aged rum that ripens in oak barrels form 3-15 years or more which gives it its rich, distinctive amber color.  Rum that is aged 18 months is called Rhum Paile, while Rhum Ambré is aged 3 years.  Rum aged from 5-7 years is called Rhum Vieux Traditionnel, rum aged 8-12 years is called Rhum Vieux Hor d’Âge, and rum aged 15 years or more is called Rhum Vieux Milléslimeé.  And on a personal note, rum that has sat in my glass for more than 10 minutes is called the last swallow.

 

For more information on rums and where to order them, visit:

http://www.rumuniversity.com/