rhum

martinique rhum awards

The First-Ever Martinique Rhum Awards Were a Big Hit

 By the Caribbean Journal staff It was a strong star for the first-ever edition of the Martinique Rhum Awards. The new rum festival, the brainchild of world-famous beach bar proprietor Guy Ferdinand and the Rum Embassy, featured a week of …

guadeloupe longeateau concerto

Rum Journal: A Concerto From Guadeloupe’s Longueteau

 By Alexander Britell In recent years, the once-mysterious world of rhum agricole has opened itself to rum lovers, with its terroir and endless sophistication charming palates around the world. Much of that, however, has been the sublime rhum agricole from …

caribbean culinary capital

Why Martinique is the Culinary Capital of the Caribbean

 By Alexander Britell and Guy Britton WE’RE SOMEWHERE near Saint-Esprit, stopped on the side of the road at Willy Poul’, a poulet boucane-focused food truck. The chicken is superb, with a resplendent garlic curry sauce, and it makes me think …

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 When it made its debut four years ago, Harbour Island’s Afrohead rum sent a shockwave through the industry. Its superb design — and its drinkability — were a refreshing addition to the Caribbean’s rum offering. It was bold, it was cool …

 By Alexander Britell It was the first rhum agricole I had ever tried. And, instantly, rum was never the same. I was at a dinner at the Royal Riviera hotel in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat in 2006, when the waiter …

 By Alexander Britell Ever since I first tried the old Rhum Depaz VSOP, the one that came in the dark wine-style bottle, I was hooked. It was a great value rhum agricole, eminently drinkable but with serious complexity. It was …

 By Alexander Britell There is a particular passion in the production of rhum agricole in Martinique. There is a thought, a contemplation, a level of sophistication that seems to transcend what you find in much of the rest of the …

 By Alexander Britell MARTINIQUE – The glass display case at Le Gommier holds a bottle of Rhum Saint James from 1931, a sugarcane memory from a time of biguine and planteurs. But the romance of the old French Caribbean never …

 It’s hard to say precisely when cask finishing began in the rum world. Sure, over the years there were rums like Dos Maderas, which took Caribbean rum and then aged it for years in sherry casks. Then there was HSE, …

 Where does a rum begin? Is it in the yeast? Is it in the still? In the case of a rhum agricole, is it in the cane itself? But it’s just as important — if not more important — where …

rum awards

 It began in 2012 with an idea: to lift up rum. The aim was to celebrate the glory of rum, to honor the greatest rums just as wines and spirits and so many other categories are honored. Rum Journal’s Rum …

 By Alexander Britell Can a rum have a terroir? In Martinique, unlike the vast majority of rum-making regions around the world, rhum is made from the juice pressed from sugarcane stalks, not molasses, the latter of which is a by-product. …

martinique airport growth

 It’s never been easier to get to the French Caribbean – and it’s never been cheaper, either. And right now, you can fly to the island of Martinique, one of the most exotic and fascinating destinations in the Caribbean, for …

 By Alexander Britell On an island like Martinique, one with an immense tradition of rummaking and the world’s only AOC designation for rum, a new distillery isn’t very common. That’s what made it so wonderful to see last year’s debut …

 Marie-Galante. It’s one of those far-flung, exotic islands that few tourists have reached, outside of those from mainland France, of course. And as we’ve noted before, this pancake-shaped island in the Guadeloupe archipelago has a special claim to fame: there …

 The beautiful thing about rhum agricole is that terroir matters. Martinique doesn’t use imported ingredients to make its rum, like far too many of its Caribbean neighbors. That means that every year the same label of rum can taste different, …

 Far on the eastern end of Guadeloupe’s butterflied island pair is Le Moule. It is a nondescript place of farms and palm trees, quiet and breezy. But it has a secret. In a lush hilltop next to an old mill …

 Sure, you’ll find a lot of recipes for hot buttered rum this week, or perhaps an early egg nog with spiced rum. But why not go grand? That’s where our favorite new recipe comes in: the Creole Royale, a French …

 

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