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Published: July 12th 2008
Aged Rum
The barrels of dark rum, aged to perfection.Martinique produces some of the best rum in the Caribbean, distilled the same way for centuries with strict standards and using only local sugarcane. The French are as serious about their rum as they are for their wine, so we decided to visit a few distilleries and go rum tasting- yum!
The adventure begins with us renting a car, actually I don't know if you can even call it a car, it was a "Twingo" about the size of a shoebox. The company theme is "it moves!" like they are actually surprised that the thing can run. It is what my dad would call a rolls can'ardly. Meaning it can roll down hills quite fast, but can'ardly get back up. So here we are, driving this thing like a road rally car (the French are crazy drivers- very fast). We are afraid we would fly off the road as we were going 60mph around hairpin turns and down steep hills, and the wheels on our Twingo are literally the size of pie tins. And getting forced into the ditch by cars passing us two deep as the Twingo could barely climb up the hills- I thought I might have to
Roll Out The Barrel
Roll out the barrel of rum! get out and push at some points. It was hilarious and we couldn't help but laugh. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our tour thru the lush countryside, nothing but fields and fields of bananas and pineapples and sugarcane. Martinique, known as the Island of Flowers, is truly beautiful.
Our first stop on our tour of rum distilleries was Niesson from the Thieubert-Carbet region. This small operation uses only fresh sugar cane juice to make their rum, not molasses. The result is amazing. Niesson rum is a sipping rum similar to cognac or other fine liqueur that you drink straight or on the rocks. It is very smooth with a distinct floral and vanilla taste- quite delicious! It is known as the Mercedes of rum and was, by far, our favorite.
The next stop was Depaz, a large distillery right at the base of Mt. Pelee. The volcanic soil produces lush sugarcane and the fresh spring water that runs down the mountain was once used to run the mill to extract the juice from the sugarcane. It is a beautiful setting and you get to see the entire process of how rum is made, start to finish. Depaz is still a
Rum Tasting
Jay rum tasting at Neissen Distillery. working distillery and it is quite fun to explore. And their rum is so delicious that we bought a barrel! Well just a small barrel that holds 3L of rum, not a big barrel. But a barrel just the same. So now we are truly the Rum Runners!
Our last stop was Habitation Clement, a plantation house on the windward coast of Martinique. This rum distillery is set amongst beautiful gardens, streams and ponds filled with swans and other local birds, and a large palm grove to explore. The plantation house is now a museum where we got a glimpse of the elegance of the plantation society and of Martinique's colonial past. We explored the house, filled with antiques and art and photos, as well as the old distillery and mill. Unfortunately the distillery was moved off the premises, but we still got to taste the rum. It was a great way to end our tour. After sipping Clement rum on the front porch of the plantation house we strolled thru the gardens and along the winding paths thru the palm groove and sugarcane fields.
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GRAN
non-member comment
AWESOME
The pics and commentary were to beautiful and interesting. I was on Martinique off a cruise ship years ago, but saw very little of the island. I do remember buying a bottle of rum and carrying it back to the US. Keep the blogs coming. Love and miss you.