A Rum a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

We left Fort-de-France at a respectable hour for the short sail north up the coast of Martinique to St. Pierre. As usual, we saw some beautiful sail boats along the way, including the classic schooner White Swan that charters in the Caribbean waters.




St. Pierre has an interesting history in that the entire town was destroyed in May 1902 when the volcano Mount Pelee erupted, killing over 30,000 people, which represented the entire population of the town along with people in neighboring villages. Today it is a sleepy coastal town and popular stopover for north/south sailing boats. It has a rather languid feel to it, reminding me of a Matisse landscape with the soft light glowing over the hills and villages.

The seaside village of St. Pierre, once devastated by a volcanic eruption in May 1902.

With little energy after walking all over Fort-de-France we just lazed around on the boat and did Meryl’s new favorite sport, noodling. This involves putting a noodle or two between your legs and doing laps around the boat. If you are Walter, it also involves bringing a scrub brush to clean the accumulated gunk off the waterline. Gives you a chance to know the local flora and fauna “up close and personal.”

The Queen of the Noodle.

Our goal was to explore around town a bit and visit the famous Depaz rum distillery. After a brief stop at the local tourist office got us only the most general instructions in French on how to get to the rum distillery (“up the road a ways”) we began what turned out to be a rather long walk through the side streets (we were almost lost) and coastal road until we found a road leading up the hill toward the interior of the island. It was a beautiful day and we had nothing else to do so we slowly meandered here and there until miraculously we came upon the distillery nestled in the tropical jungle environs typical of this area.

The old French fort on top of the bluff guards St. Pierre.

The tasting room and Welcome Center at Depaz Distillery.

Storage tanks for the cane syrup used in making Rhum Agricole.

The Depaz distillery is one of a limited number of rum distilleries on the island, and certainly one of the nicer ones to visit and tour. It wasn’t sugar cane harvest time, so unfortunately the distillery workers were focusing on maintenance and cleaning rather than rum production during our stay. Compared to the rum distillery we had visited on Grenada, this one was well maintained and modernized. They did a good job, however, of keeping bits and pieces of older equipment to give the visitor a sense for how it was done in the old days.

Huge waterwheels such as this still provide power to the rum distilleries.

This modern crusher extracts the cane sugar out of the sugar cane stalks.

The vertical Creole-type distiller using in Rhum Agricole production. I would tell you how it all works but the sign is in French.

I love this picture of an old heat exchanger since it's basically the same design used in the engine of our sailboat and for our refrigeration system. Cooler water (salt water in the case of a boat) goes through the pipes while the coolant circulates on the outside.

Dark rum is aged in oak casks, similar to wine and whiskey, while clear rum is stored in stainless steel tanks.

Rum distilleries on the island of Martinique are unique in that they are 1) highly controlled by the French Government, and 2) produce only “rhum agricole,” that is rum produced purely from sugar cane compared to the majority of rums that are produced using molasses. It gives the rum a lighter, more favorable taste in our experience.

Rather than try and paraphrase the Rhum Agricole process, I’ve quoted from a great article in the
LA Times Magazine, June 3, 2012 titled “Rhum Agricole:”

The island, some 430 square miles, is located in the Lesser Antilles, between Dominica and St. Lucia. France first claimed Martinique in 1635; today it is an overseas department of the republic, part of the European Union. The currency is the euro, and its official language is French, although Créole Martiniquais can be heard throughout the island. Its inhabitants—a mixture of African and European descendants from the colonial-era sugar trade, along with Amerindian, East Indian, Lebanese and Chinese—are French citizens.

The standard of living is among the highest in the Caribbean, and so is the cost of doing business.
Ninety-nine percent of the world’s rum produced today is rhum industriel, made from molasses—a tradition that goes back to the 17th century, when entrepreneurs sought to put the waste product of sugar manufacturing to good use.

The other 1 percent is rhum agricole, and the majority of that is from Martinique. (Versions of rhum agricole are also made in the Caribbean on of Réunion and Mauritius; and in Brazil, which is known for the spirit cachaça.)

An AOC—Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, or “controlled designation of origin”—is the certified geographic designation and regulation given by the French government for that nation’s cheeses, wines, spirits and other agricultural products. The island of Martinique is home to the only AOC
outside the mother country, and it is the sole unique appellation for rum in the entire world. In other words, the rhums of Martinique are protected and strictly regulated by the same body that governs the production of Champagne, Bordeaux and, most relevantly, Cognac (well, Armagnac, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves).

The AOC rhums of Martinique are made strictly from 12 varieties of fresh pressed sugarcane juice from four regions, and according to law, fermentation must begin within 24 hours of harvest. The unique microclimates, soils, sun exposures, altitudes and weather patterns—from the tropical rainforest at the northern tip of the island at Macouba, where Rhum J.M. is located, to the drier, sunnier west coast, near Saint-Pierre, where you find Neisson—result in one of the most terroir-driven distillates on earth. (Yes, terroir, a term generally associated more with wine geeks.)

Rhum agricole is made from vin de canne, or sugarcane wine—an approach credited to Homère Clément, a late-19th-century native of Martinique, who received a scholarship from the French government to attend the University of Paris. In 1878, Clément returned to Martinique with a passion for Grand Cru wines and Armagnac. To this day, the rhum is distilled in a Créole single column copper still, modeled on the classic Armagnac still.

In 1887, Clément bought Domaine de l’Acajou, a 300-acre sugarcane plantation outside of Le François, which he converted into a rhum distillery. While it is not known exactly who first distilled fresh-pressed sugarcane juice, Clément, along with St. James and Depaz, began to revolutionize the industry. The rhum producers of Martinique have endured volcanos, earthquakes, hurricanes, economic crises, corporate takeovers, consolidation and, more recently, antitrust regulations. The once illustrious capital, Saint-Pierre, referred to as the Paris of the Caribbean, was swept into the sea when Mount Pelée erupted in 1902, wiping out about a sixth of the island’s population.

“Rhum agricole is the only thing we have to fight against the rest of the world,” says Benjamin Mélin-Jones, with an expressionless face and a thousand-yard stare. For this dedicated man, building a spirits category is a matter of honor. Mélin-Jones is a fourth-generation descendant of Homère Clément. He  represents rhums Clément and J.M., two of the island’s most renowned, yet very different, brands.

The somewhat forced smile on her face is the result of the 150-proof rum slowing making its way down. It's very strong stuff.

The height of any distillery tour, the tasting room, didn’t disappoint us. We’ve learned to judiciously sip the stronger 150-proof rums, especially when you have a 5-mile walk home in the heat of the day.

Ironically we did not buy any rum at the distillery, since we didn’t relish carrying it all the way back to the boat, but we had previously bought a liter of Clément and JM Rhum which we’re looking forward to trying, along the the tiny amount of Pyrat Rhum (reputed to be one of the best rums in the world) we and left over from St. Thomas. As my friend Rannie once said, don’t dare mix this rum (Pyrat) with Coca Cola or fruit punch. It’s too good for that.”

We had a relaxing long walk downhill and then along the coast road back to the boat, where as usual, we crashed on the cockpit cushions and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset along with a small dash of rum.

Great way to end a day.