Habitation St Etienne

The historic Habitation Saint-Etienne was purchased by the Hayot family, who were already owners of the Simon Distillery (one of the last eight distilleries still functioning in Martinique), in 1994. Their dream was to restore this 19th distillery and sugar cane plantation back to its former glory. The specialized 'creole-style' copper stills found there were moved to the Simon Distillery and restored after years of neglect and damage from hurricanes. The Habitation Saint-Etienne now serves for blending and aging fine 'agricole rhums,' perserving the style that gave Saint-Etienne its century-long reputation. It now produces 10% of the entire local market for white rhum and 15% for 'old' rhum. Their rhum blanc 'Cuvée de l'an 2000' was the first white rhum ever in the world to be proposed as a 'vintage' rhum. Their 'vieux' rhums continue to win medals and are among the best of their type. Liqueurs de France is proud to become their new UK distributor and offer a sample of their exceptional products to our customers who have come to appreciate our commitment to only the finest.

Distillerie Damoiseau

The Bellevue distillery, located on the Eastern side of Guadeloupe, was purchased in 1942 by Roger Damoiseau and is now operated by his grandsons, Jean Luc and Evre Damoiseau. It is one of the larger distilleries in Guadeloupe. Although some of the cane processed at the distillery is still cut by hand from the surrounding fields, the rest is comes from all over the island.

The pressed juice is fermented for thirty-six hours before being distilled to about 72º in the single distillation column. After distillation, the rhum is either diluted to 50° for bottling or put in oak barrels for aging. Distillerie Damoiseau is one of the few distilleries in Guadeloupe that bottles rhum paille-rhum that has been aged less than the three years required to be called rhum vieux. Damoiseau Rhum Paille is aged one year and is smoother than the unaged rhum blanc. Damoiseau Rhum Vieux is aged five or six years before it is bottled at 45°. Liqueurs de France is also proud to sell the rare 15-year-old Damoiseau rhum.

Rhumerie JM

The Rhumerie JM, located in Macouba, was founded in 1790 as the Jean-Marie Martins sugar factory and the rum was made from molasses, a by-product of the sugar refining operation. A fall in the price of sugar led to a switch from sugar refining and rhum agricole became the principal product.

The cane juice is fermented for two days after which it is distilled in a single column copper still to a final strength of around 80% abv. The distillate intended for rhum blanc is rested in stainless steel tanks for around six months before dilution and bottling, whereas that intended to produce rhum paille is stored in 200-litre oak casks for one year. The straw coloured JM Rhum paille or Eleve Sous Bois is bottled at 50% abv. A few rhums are aged for longer periods such as the Reserve Speciale or single vintage rhums, which are kept for ten years in Amercian oak barrels.

Habitation Clément

Habitation Clément is situated in Francois, Martinique. Then known as Habitation Acajou, it was purchased by its founder, Homère Clément, in 1887 and remained in production for 100 years until was sold to the Bernard Hayot group in 1986 when it was renamed it Habitation Clément in honour of the family. The original creole plantation house no longer houses the distillery which was relocated to a larger distillery nearby due to increased demand.

Clemente rhums blanc are bottled at 50%, 55% and 62% abv. Various aged rhums are produced including two special cuvees, Charles Clement (aged for three to six years) and Homere (aged for six years).

La Mauny

Located at Riviere Pilote, this is the largest distillery in Martinique, and indeed in the French West Indies. The estate was founded in 1749 by the Comte de Mauny as a sugar plantation and production of rum only really became significant in 19th century. Today La Mauny produces 2 million litres of rhum agricole each year, of which 25% is retained for ageing.

The cane juice is fermented for 24 hours and the vessou is distilled in a copper column still to a final strength of around 70 % abv. The rhum blanc is stored in 50,000 litre old oak casks (to minimise the absorption of colour or flavour) for three months before being filtered and bottled at 50% or 55% abv. The rum for aging is stored in 250-litre oak barrels. The distillery produces a range of aged rhums; VO (aged for 18 months), VSOP (aged for 4 years), XO (aged for 10 years) as well as a number of single-vintage rhums.