There is no doubt that the center of Rhum Agricole is Martinique. There are Fourteen distilleries in
the tiny Caribbean island of Martinique produce rhum agricole. The
most renowned include Habitation Clément in Le Francois, Depaz in Saint-Pierre,
and Saint-James Distillery in Sainte-Marie.
"In 1870, sugarcane accounted for 57% of Martinique arable lands.
Sugar cane prices which once rocketed, plunged heavily due to worldwide over
production and the growing availability in Europe of beet sugar. The plummeting
prices made mortgages unbearable to many debt ridden distilleries driving most
of them to bankruptcy. The surviving one had to find how to make other products
form sugarcane. An obvious option was to make rum directly from fresh sugarcane
juice and not from molasses, avoiding to run the sugar production process.'
" As the World War
I raged across Europe, most of continental French distillery (53%) were either
on German occupied territories or destroyed. France was on a verge of an alcohol shortage,
as alcohol was essential for maintaining the troop’s morale as well as
producing explosive. Martinique boosted
its production to attain levels which were never to be attained again. In 1918, continental rum producers began to
lobby government to create taxes on imported rum. Their efforts drove to the adoption of a 1922
law restricting on a certain volume imports from foreign and non-continental
producers."
What does it take to have your sugar cane rhum to carry the "Agricole" label?
"AOC
Martinique Rhum Agricole"
- Be produced from cane grown in an area
authorized by the AOC decree
- Cultivation yields are limited to 120 metric
tons of sugarcane per hectare. (Metric Acre)
- Only be made of fresh sugarcane juice obtained
by grinding and pressing of sugar cane. No addition of syrup or molasses
is allowed.
- Has to be made through distillation columns and by continuous
distillation processing of fermented wort.
- Must be of one of the three following
designations :
- Rhum "blanc" Martinique (white
rum)
- Rhum Martinique "élevé sous bois"
(cask aged rum)
- Rhum Martinique "vieux" (extra aged rum)
This is a very special kind of rhum, and very different from those that are produced from molasses and other combinations of sugar cane products. If you haven't tried any of these, you owe it to yourself to give them a try. Ti Punch is a great mix is you are trying the Rhum Blanc or even the cask aged rhums. ;o)
