Rhum

Featuring distilleries new and old, active and defunct, this chapter serves as a showcase for the incredible variety of rum production.

It must begin, of course, with the Caribbean: the region, so significant in the history of sugarcane distillation, remains the gold standard to this day. This is due both to the hundreds of exceptionally skilled producers who call it home, and to the independent bottlers — such as Maison Ferrand (Planteray) and Velier — who shine a spotlight on them. Jamaica, Barbados, Martinique, Guadeloupe — isles whose mythical distilleries are the pride of the region — share these pages with Haiti’s numerous micro-distilleries, also known as guildives.

Many distilleries, some of them founded as early as the 17th and 18th centuries, have failed to weather the storms of the past few decades: competition from sugar beet production, successive economic downturns, and structural crises number among the headwinds. There is no better illustration than the story of the Caroni distillery, shuttered in 2003, and whose new series Paradise is featured in this year’s Foundations collection.

Other distilleries have survived across the ages, successfully holding onto their heritage buildings, verdant gardens, and sugar mills. Stade’s West Indies Rum Distillery is one such survivor: founded in Barbados in 1893 by genius distiller and coppersmith George Stades, its production equipment has been restored by new owner Maison Ferrand.

Buoyed by renewed publ ic i nterest, distilleries are showcasing their heritage and their ancestral know-how. Hampden Estate is a shining example of this trend: refurbished by the Hussey family between 2009 and 2012, the estate has held onto its main building (the Great House, built in 1779), in addition to a section of the original distillery and its unique 18th-century décor. The more recent Isautier distillery (founded on La Réunion in 1845) has preserved its chimney, which is classified as a historic landmark. Isautier’s rum museum is a testament to the renewed interest in the history of distilleries and in their production processes. Neisson (founded in 1932) further illustrates the advent of “rum culture”, having been labelled Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant (Living Heritage Company) in 2019 in recognition of its rare k now-how based on traditional production techniques.

This chapter also gives new distilleries, which are currently shaking up the rum world, equal billing to their elders. On the island of Grenada, Renegade asserts its unique character with its cyan-painted façade and its innovative traceability concept. In Africa, Mhoba (built in 2011) promotes local production by distilling Nkomazi, a sugar-cane variety endemic to South Africa. This chapter ends with one final surprise: spirits distilled from Japanese sugarcane by the Nine Leaves distillery, dismantled in 2024, which were produced according to methods inspired by master distiller and Chichibu founder Ichiro Akuto.

Cuba - Molasses Rum - IB

Hoy como hayer, Cuba 1956

In 1956, Cuba — a country famous for its idyllic beaches, mambo rhythms and legendary cigars — was in the midst of unprecedent social and political turmoil. The Cuban Revolution had been under way since 1953, leading to the eventual fall of Fulgencio Batista’s military dictatorship and the proclamation of the Republic of Cuba on 1 January 1959.

Despite this political instability, however, the 1950s were a period of economic prosperity for the Caribbean island thanks in large part to the strength of the sugar industry and rum production. Several world-renowned Cuban distilleries exported their rum to America and Europe, and brands like Bacardí, Havana Club and Matusalem had already gained an international following.

These distilleries, along with all the other distilleries on the island and its sugar mills, were nationalised in 1960. This bottling was distilled in 1956, at the height of the revolution, and was selected by the teams at La Maison & Velier as a tribute to this golden age of Cuban rum. The label is illustrated with a work by Cuban artist Aconcha titled Hoy Como Ayer (Today, Just Like Yesterday), a name rich in meaning for a venerable Cuban single cask.

ACONCHA (Sanz Averhoff)

Self-taught, multidisciplinary artist Aconcha was born in Havana in 1946. Raised in a family of designers and artisans, she was mentored by her uncle, a priest of the Afro-Cuban Santeriá religion, which is derived from the African Yoruba worship of Orisha gods and goddesses. This spiritual initiation would have a long-lasting impact on her art. In the mid-1960s, in response to Cuba’s tense political and economic climate, Aconcha moved to Paris, then Brussels to concentrate on design, music and visual arts. In the 1990s, she and her partner retired to the Verdon mountains, mak ing freq uent trips back to Havana. This was the start of an introspective journey during which painting, sketching and sculpting became her preferred techniques and the Orishas her primary subject.

Trinidad and Tobago - Heavy Rum - OB

Caroni Paradise

Caroni, Trinidad and Tobago’s state-owned distillery, was founded in 1918 and shuttered in 2003 after 85 years, a victim of the profound shakeup of the sugar industry and increased international competition between rum producers. The entirety of its remaining stores was purchased in 2004 by Italian bottler and distributor Velier, and remained on the island until 2019.

The very last casks were then moved to the Cognac region of France and transferred into demijohns. A series of demijohns was launched in 2021 — housed in bottles hand-blown by Massimo Lunardon in Italy — under the name Caroni Paradise, a nod to the tradition of ageing the oldest cognacs in dark cellars known as “Paradis”. For the third year running, the new series — six vintages distilled between 1994 and 2000 — bears labels illustrated by Trinidadian artist Che Lovelace.

Copyright: Che Lovelace

1. Man descending Stairs carrying Wings - 2021
2. Emerald and Sun Dancers - 2021
3. The Gun - 2022
4. Figure with Falling Water - 2016-2022
5. Climbing Figure above Bathers - 2016-2022