Interview with Grégoire Gueden, GBH Spirits Director.
The Saint-Maurice distillery was acquired a year ago. What investments and changes have been made since then?
Just over a year ago, GBH took over the Guyanese distillery Saint-Maurice (and its emblematic brands La Belle Cabresse and La Cayennaise), which has been in existence for over a century (1917). We have great ambitions for this company and its brands. Over the past year, we have implemented a major plan to renovate and upgrade our various industrial facilities (refurbishment of the vinasse treatment basins, complete dismantling of the distillation columns, refurbishment of the boiler and mills, bagasse treatment process).
We also carried out a major beautification operation on the site (cleaning, painting, planting, etc.). The local teams, led by Ludovic Jacob (trained at the JM distillery) and his assistant Florence Marmot, have done a remarkable job, in line with the new dynamic we want to create. Just 2 months ago, we inaugurated a magnificent rum sales and tasting area within the distillery. We firmly believe in the virtues of spirit tourism!
Why are La Belle Cabresse products no longer available in mainland France?
No cane… no rum! Unfortunately, we’ve inherited a complicated situation, as the distillery is currently experiencing a severe shortage of sugar cane. This temporary situation is the result of a number of factors: unfavorable weather during the last harvests (heavy rains), production campaigns that were too long, leading to out-of-season harvests, lower yields…
We have already begun to redevelop agriculture in the Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni region. The urgent need to increase our rum production to meet growing demand means that we naturally need more sugar cane. We are working on this crucial issue with our independent grower partners, whom we are trying to unite and support as best we can.
We have ourselves become sugarcane growers in French Guiana, recently acquiring 200 hectares of farmland in Plateau des Mines, 20 minutes from the rum factory. All of this land will be planted within 3 years.
What role did Ernest Prevot play in the distillery?
Ernest Prevot has devoted a large part of his life to the development of this fine company, whose roots go back to 1917. Almost a year ago to the day, he handed over the keys to “the house”, making us promise to take good care of it, preserve it and make it grow by writing the continuation of the story he started.
That’s what we’re trying to do, by following in his footsteps. His name and image are intimately linked to the rum distillery. That’s why he’s with us every step of the way, helping us to make every important decision.
What are your next steps?
Fulfilling orders on the local market, relaunching the brand in mainland France and embarking on a more extensive export program. As soon as we have sufficient production, we’ll also be stepping up the ageing process to be able to offer new aged rum references. For the moment, this month we’re launching a (very) limited edition (545 bottles) of 16-year-old La Cayennaise aged rum.
We have also launched 2 imitation editions of Belle Cabresse white rum, which have met with great success. One celebrated Carnival, while the second paid tribute to the 60th anniversary of the European conquest of space from Guiana. Last but not least, we have a project entitled “Les punchs de la Belle Cabresse” (Belle Cabresse punches) which should be launched very soon.