The words of Rum experts

So many come to mind! For example, a bottle of white rum that belonged to my grandfather… I found it in 1997 – that’s a great memory and the perfect rum, in my opinion!

In a different style, there are also Sunday Ti’ Punches with friends – they’re sacred! We make them with lots of ice and good limes… They go really well with a Neisson «special» fish blaff, or before and during a barbecue, even with dessert!

Rum has always been important in my family. Both of my grandfathers were home-distillers that made their own spirits, but they always had a soft spot for the rhum agricole of Martinique. When we were kids, our grandmother would put rum in a bottle labelled “cordial for adults”. She would use it to make us “canards” (literally “ducks”, a sugar lump soaked in liquid), with a sugar cube seeped in the rum! We loved them!

Later on, memories of my grandparents caught the attention of rum-makers and probably helped me get my first job in Martinique. Since then, I’ve earnt my stripes and learnt a huge amount from my peers, who now call me «Doc»!

Rum is such an adventure… For a tasting, maybe Long Pond in Jamaica… I have a very fond memory of tasting a perfect and very old Long Pond Jamaica 100% Pot Still. For me it was a formative moment, perhaps even the moment the seed was sown for a certain Plantation Jamaica, even if I didn’t know it at the time.  That was over 25 years ago! There are rums anchored in my memory that create a garden of flavours and aromas that inspire me.

This year my best memory is definitely reawakening our chamber still, the famous «Vulcan», which dates back to the 19th century. It had been sleeping for decades on a beach in Barbados at the old West Indies Rum distillery, which bought it in the wake of American Prohibition.