William Hinton: the agricole rum made in Madeira finally available in France
Bruant has taken over the distribution of products by William Hinton, one of the five agricole rum dis…
South Africa’s Rum Revolution
For a country that produces some 2.2 million tons of sugar per season, South Africa was slow in enteri…
The History of Rum Lives in a New Orleans House – The Remsberg Collection
Walking through the front door of Stephen Remsberg’s modest New Orleans house is akin to entering Valh…
How to convince a whisky enthusiast to switch to rum
It’s not as hard as you think. Dare to reveal to a whisky connoisseur that you prefer rum. And observe their reaction. Can you see it, the irony sparking in their pupil ? And the mockery raising one corner of the mouth, the anxiety of frowning nostrils? Notice…
A1710: a string of Perles!
2018 vintages by the shoveful! Talking about the new blends by A1710: Nuée Ardente and Soleil de Minuit… Let’s begin with Nuée Ardente 44.8%, a blend of 7 rums aged for 10 to 18 years. More woody notes and character, a direct result (we’ve been told) of…
Luca Gargano and Jamaica, a true romance
If there is a key figure in the rum world, that person is Luca “Ruruki” Gargano! The introduction into the French and European markets of new Yardies bottled by the Genoa-based company has given us an opportunity to find out more about the love affair Ruruki has had…
Caroni’s 100th anniversary celebrations
Caroni started distilling, blending and bottling rum in 1918. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the lost distillery, Velier and LMDW have released an 18-year-old Caroni Replica, bottled at 51.4% (90° proof). With its vintage label, this bottle is “a replica of one of the only bottles…
Admiral Rodney triples its fleet
Cabin boy, get ready, there isn’t one but three Admiral Rodney’s mooring at quay. FYI, George Rodney, a.k.a. Georgie, won the battle of the Saintes in 1782. Due to my poor nautical vocabulary, I’ll stop using this “anchor tatooed on the arm” style in the rest of…
Chairman’s Reserve 1931 is back, stronger, more unique!
For your reference, Chairman’s Reserve 1931 is a limited edition by Saint Lucia Distillers, a group distilling on the small island of Saint Lucia, south of Martinique. Six editions have succeeded each other year after year, but from now on Chairman’s Reserve will be a continuous blend,…
Maison La Mauny: V. O. for Very Original
From now on, Maison La Mauny Signature du Maître de Chais will be sold under the name “VO Signature du Maître de Chais” -VO for Very Old, because of the ageing period (at least 3 years)! Maison la Mauny have given this original creation a new package…
Hampden’s ménage à trois with La Maison & Velier!
Hampden has appointed LM&V, a joint venture of Italian company Velier and French company La Maison du Whisky, as its official distributor! The distillery had been ageing its rums since 2010, with a view to releasing an official bottling, and now the time has come to release…
Trois Rivières: when Martinique takes a dip in Connemara Lake
Trois Rivières goes swimming with… diving bottles! Trois Rivières goes swimming with… diving bottles! First instalment of the “Trois Rivières Finish Collection” series, this rhum spent over 8 months in total in Teeling “small batch” whiskey casks –Teeling being a nice Irish whiskey company based in Dublin.…
In Gargano Veritas
This is a dream combination, Foursquare meets Hampden, Barbados meets Jamaica… Coffey column in the first case, double retort pot still in the second. In fact, this is a blended rum -as are most rums produced by Foursquare / Doorly’s -, but, this time round, instead of…
Jamaica’s Historic Long Pond Loses Critical Infrastructure to Fire – Reconstruction Planned
As first reported by the Jamaica Observer, Jamaica’s Long Pond rum distillery was severely hobbled by a fire on July 16, 2018. The historic distillery, known for its classic pot stilled Jamaican rums adjoins a sugar cane factory and cane fields. A fire in an adjoining cane…
Neisson comes back with a stylistic exercise
Neisson has released a Neisson Blanc « Parcelles en conversion bio » bottled at 52.5%. This rum has been made by using sugarcane from lots that are about to become organic farming certified. Momentarily, there are therefore three 52.5% versions, which gives us an opportunity to compare them. Don’t…
Marseille Rhum Fest 2018, Rum Laboratory
After two years of roding, Marseille Rhum Fest is returning with an ambitious program. Meeting with his co-organizer Cyrille Hugon. Rumporter: After RFP’s success, why did you create RFM? Cyrille Hugon: Our success in Paris has allowed us to reach a nationwide audience. On social media you…
Plantation Digs Into Long Pond Archives for Extreme Series No. 3
A recent scan of the U.S. Government spirits label database turned up two new Plantation Extreme series releases, “ITP” and “HJC”. Both were distilled in 1996 using a John Dore pot still at Jamaica’s Long Pond distillery, which Plantation now co-owns. Since then, they’ve aged for 22…
what’s India drinking
Although the effect of demonitization, declaration of a new dry state and the recent Supreme Court decision to ban liquor shops within 500 meters of national and state highways has been detrimental to the growth of spirits industry in India, according to latest reports, three Indian rum…
How justified was the call to boycott Flor de Caña ?
Translated into English by Thomas Giraud In the light of the devastating effects caused by a kidney disease of non-traditional causes called CKDu (Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown etiology), which has decimated workers in Nicaragua’s sugar industry since the early 2000’s, Rumporter has decided to take action with an investigation…
The Renaissance of Renaissance Rum Festival : Interview with Robert & Robin Burr, creators of the festival.
From Berlin and New York, to Paris, Rome, Madrid and Athens, many big cities in Europe and the United States, host annual rum festivals. Without a doubt, The Miami Rum Renaissance Festival was a pioneer and an inspiration for many of them. This year the festival is…
Alexandre Vingtier : Geographic Identification, yes we can !
There is something new in terms of transparency, regulation and protection of rum producing areas, a subject of great interest to connoisseurs and professionals alike. Without question, the French have been at the forefront of controlled appellations and global protection of these areas; all French rums have…
El Pasador de Oro, the perfect gift for your brother-in-law?
Once again, Guatemalan rums are distinguishing themselves. And once again, it’s about sugarcane honey, when the freshly pressed sugarcane juice is warmed slowly until the water evaporates and only concentrated sugar remains. Called “virgin cane honey” in the original Guatemalan rum vocabulary, the product is then fermented…
Manutea, for the Polynesian ti-punches
Manutea hails from Tahiti and represents everything we like, like the single variety O’Tahiti, the juice, the slow reduction… what more does one need? The two versions, 40% and 50%, have two very different aroma profiles, which raises the interest of Manutea even further. When we taste…
Pirate’s Grog : Two Englishmen in Honduras…
Les Whiskies du Monde offers a new line of a little rum hailing from Honduras – and more accurately – from the heavenly island of Roatán, 60 kilometers from the northern coasts of the country. Roatán is surrounded by one of the world’s largest coral reef, the…
A1710 and the real gems
The little Martinican distillery never ceases to amaze. It celebrates its first anniversary this year and is about to launch two new white rums called “La Perle Rare” (the real gem), at 52% and 52.5% ABV, both produced from sugarcane grown on an organic land (ECOCERT certified),…
Conde de Cuba : The sweet count
Conde de Cuba was named after an important figure of the island, Francisco Dionisio Vives y Planes, whose title was given by Ferdinand VII, king of Spain. The distillery named Sevilla (like the Spanish city… are you still with us?) then named its rum in his honor.…
Pagès-Védrenne ready to take on Marie-Galante
Pagès-Védrenne, the almost century-old liquor maker, has acquired the distribution rights of Bielle distillery in metropolitan France. After Jamaica with Red Bonny (see the special mixology issue of Rumporter), the French company is courting the Antilles with the Bielle, a great rhum agricole. With the B2B market…
The aptly-named Favorite!
La Favorite, a rum producer on the rise among rum lovers, has set aside 5,000 bottles of its 2009 vintage, previously available at Club Expert Dugas. Let it be known that trade expos are not the best place to discover new spirits, what with the smell of…
Saint James celebrates 20 years of the AOC with a new vintage
For the 20th anniversary of the AOC and following the recent election of Saint James’ oenologist Marc Sassier as chairman of AOC Martinique (from now on, we should call him Mr. Sassier or Mr. Chairman!), the rum maker has launched the brand new Single Cask 1997 in…
Neisson pulls out all the stops as its 85th anniversary
Armade, or the 4 decanters of the Apocalypse, are enough to get your bank privileges suspended! The squadron of 4, which assembles the oldest vintages of the producer, has been imprisoned inside crystal decanters, for the greatest pleasure of collectors and wealthy drinkers alike! It should be…
Trois Rivières and Maison La Mauny score twice
Staying at the top is hard. Trois Rivières knows that and always launches new products very carefully. Before even announcing their latest new rhum, let’s remember that “L23”, the letter and first number in its name rings a bell in many rum lovers’ minds. Last year, Trois…
Oxenham becomes Oxenham Craft Distillery
The Mauritian distillery rebranded itself in July along with the launch of a new Bougainville line sold from October 2017 onwards. Bougainville has two categories: pure single rums called “Rum Bougainville” and aromatized and spiced rums called “Spirit of Bougainville”. Bougainville is the only distillery in Mauritius…
Worthy Park’s awakening. Are you worthy of Worthy Park?
The Worthy Park distillery is the only genuine “single estate” rum producer in Jamaica. Single estate means that “WP” is the only estate to independently produce 100% of its rum, from planting its own sugarcane to bottling, as well as fermentation and distillation—failing which it can’t be…
