The
latest Plantation expression is being created using liquid distilled at
Jamaica’s Long Pond and Clarendon distilleries, Plantation Xaymaca Special
Dry has been ‘double-aged’ – first in Bourbon barrels in Jamaica and then
in Cognac Ferrand casks in south-west France.
According to Maison Ferrand, Jamaica’s authentic pot still rum is famous
for its aromas and flavors of black banana and flambéed pineapple, locally
called “rum funk”.
According
to Alexandre Gabriel, founder of Maison
Ferrand, said: “With Xaymaca Special Dry, I wanted to dive into the iconic
culture that is unique to Jamaican rum. I wanted to work with these complex
flavors of overripe exotic fruits with an almost animal intensity. “We can still find certain white rums with
this famous ‘rum funk’. I think, however, that this great terroir expresses
itself perfectly in an aged rum. That is why we are launching Xaymaca Special
Dry – a tribute to this ancestral culture of rum.”
In
2017, Maison Ferrand acquired West Indies Rum distillery,
a Barbados distillery that became co-owner of National Rums of Jamaica, which
owns the Clarendon and Long Pond distilleries.
“The access to these two emblematic distilleries, with their retort
stills that look like ancient pachyderms, is the realization of a dream. It
allowed me to dive into this ancestral tradition and create a rum that I had
wanted for a long time.”
Plantation Xaymaca
Special Dry will launch in the US this month at an RRP of US$24.99. Bottled at 43% abv with no added sugar, the
expression’s Xaymaca name refers to the title Jamaica’s first inhabitants, the
Arawaks, gave to the Caribbean island.
A fire at
the Long Pond Distillery earlier this year destroyed 65,000 liters of
newly made rum and 92 fermentation vats. The distillery’s pot stills and muck pit had
not been affected and that his team hopes to start distilling light pot still
rums again very soon. No one is sure when”
distillation of high-ester rums will resume.
