Exclusive Interview with Mr. David Boullé, Rum Maker at Trois Freres Distillery
Q: What is your full name, title, company name and company location?
David Boullé, Rum Maker, Trois Freres Distillery located in Mahé, Seychelles, Indian Ocean.
Q: When I mention the Seychelles to people, most of them don’t have a clue where this country is. Can you tell us a little bit about the Seychelles, what inspired you to build your distillery there and how long have you been in operation?
To put things in perspective, Seychelles is the 16th smallest country in the world, with a population of approximately 96,000 and a land area of 459 km2.
Seychelles is a tropical country of 115 islands spread over 1.4 million square km. situated almost in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The major economic activities are fisheries and tourism.
We have been operating since 2002, making our Takamaka brand of rum. We may be one of the smallest commercial rum distilleries in the world, it would be interesting to find out how we rank with regards to this.
The distillery was started by my cousins Richard and Bernard d’Offay and their dad, Robert. Robert was the initial driver of the distillery project having built the first stills and taught his sons how to ferment and distill. We are a company 100% owned and operated by Seychellois.
I joined them in 2005 after leaving my job as the Director of fisheries research for the Seychelles Govt. I took over the distiller role from Bernard who left to travel and develop other local businesses.
A bit of history of rum in Seychelles – well, there is not much – Trios Freres Distillery is the first commercial producer in the country’s history. Rum was brought to the islands in the mid- 16th century by the British navy and corsairs, however this did not stimulate any traditional rum production activities such as those found on the islands of Reunion and Mauritius. Since the late 1800’s / early 1900’s there has been some sugarcane cultivated on the islands primarily as a source of sugar/sweetener, as ships supplying the islands were infrequent visitors. As supplies to Seychelles became more frequent the use of sugarcane changed to make a fermented cane juice beverage known locally as ‘Baka’. The production of baka has declined over the years mainly due to the threat of the rat borne disease, leptospirosis, and its perception locally as a ‘poor mans’ drink, however a couple of ‘baka houses’ are still in operation.
Q: In March of this year I interviewed Mr. Anthony Chase, owner of Daufuskie Island Rum Company, and much like in your case, we spoke about the challenges he faced having his distillery on an island. What challenges (logistics/construction) did you face or continue to face due to the location of the distillery?
Seychelles has always faced developmental constraints due to the relatively isolated position of the country. We have to source nearly all of our raw materials (bottles, caps, labels, boxes, etc.) from overseas and these shipments have to be planned well in advance so that they can be delivered by the few containerized vessels which visit. We have had many instances of our containers being mis-handled (i.e. left in another country). For me personally, the limited amount of sugarcane available is probably our greatest constraint to rum production. There is a law in Seychelles that no sugarcane can be grown on land that can be used for food crops, thus there is a limit to the amount of cane land available. We currently have an outreach program whereby we provide a free consultation process for anyone wanting information on sugarcane cultivation. Another constraint is the lack of skilled locals – many businesses here opt to employ experienced expatriate staff to alleviate this problem.
Q: The name “Trois Freres” means three brothers, right? Where did the name come from, what is the story behind it?
Robert and Diana d’Offay have three sons – hence the Trois Freres, also the Trois Freres are three prominent mountains here. However, not many people in Seychelles recognize the name ‘Trois Freres’ in connection with our rum, we are more commonly known as the Takamaka Rum company.
The name Takamaka refers to a local bay and is also the name of a local tree (Eng. Pink Mahogany) which was featured on our early labels.
Q: Why did you decide to produce rum over other spirits and where did you gain your
knowledge about rum production?
Being a tropical island, rum was always going to be the choice of spirit produced. As we are limited in the type of fermentable material available it had to be rum and mainly rum based on sugarcane juice. Initially, we considered a molasses based fermentation, however the costs of imports into Seychelles were prohibitive and supply was sporadic. We still continue to supplement production with molasses based distillate. Our sugar cane is supplied through a cooperative of sugar cane growers who take great care in ensuring that the cane is wholly organic in cultivation. The island of Mahé provides distinctive “ terroir ” notes unique to its granitic soil nature (most, if not all, other island rums are grown on basaltic soils). We are also quite proud of the water we have access to which is from a natural spring with superb purity. I developed my rum production knowledge, initially through working with Bernard, our first distiller and now mainly through doing a lot of reading and adapting this to the operation of our stills. Luckily we also managed to secure the services of Gilles Cognier, a Martiniquais fermentation specialist who had worked for most his career at La Mauny, for a month long consultancy to improve our fermentation process. It’s and I find the sharing of experiences with other persons working in the field very important in further developing my distilling skills.
Q: What rums are you currently producing? (Give names and descriptions here). Where is your rum available for purchase?
The main production at the distillery is sugarcane juice based spirit, in other words an agricole type rum, however we do not use the term ‘agricole’ as this terminology is restricted to rum production from the French Caribbean countries and our production methods (fermentation, distillation and aging) are quite different to those produced in the French Caribbean. We also have molasses based rum products.
Takamaka produces five core products – they are:
• White Rum (43% ABV) – Traditionally used as a base for any number of cocktails, this rum is more crisp and clean than its mysterious and darker cousin. The white rum is a blend of different distillate component spirits with no added flavours/extracts. This is also the base of many of our flavoured products.
• Dark Spiced Rum (43% ABV) – our most popular, based on the d’Offay family’s original formula and it has a style of ‘rhum arrange’. We have developed our recipe for the rum over several years. The ingredients are water, alcohol, caramel and the spiced component which is vanilla heavy with a small percentage of other local spices.
• Extra Dark (43% ABV) – This our most recent product which is a blend of our 3 YO aged sugarcane juice distillate and molasses distillate rums. We also add caramel to give it the extra dark colour.
• St. André Rhum Vesou (40% ABV) – This white rum is a blend of cane juice and molasses distillate.
• St. André 8 year old (40% ABV) – Aged in ex-Bourbon barrels this rum is inspired by the rich heritage of La Plaine St André, this premium rum shows flavours of vanilla, marmalade and oak.
We also produce a range of flavoured rums in keeping with our tropical heritage:
Coco Rum (25% ABV), Pineapple Rum (25% ABV) and Mango/Passion Fruit Rum (25% ABV) – For these we use natural extracts which are added to a blended sweetened rum spirit.
Being low ABV products we refer to these more as rum spirit aperitifs.
Naturally most of our sales are local. We have had a lot of interest in our products from overseas. Currently we export approx. 10% of our production mostly to Dubai and Germany. We are distributed through A&E in Dubai and Haromex in Germany with sales growing nicely.
Q: I know you are experimenting with aging rum in different types of barrels, how is this coming along and when can we expect to see those rums released?
We currently have a lot of rum aging in new French and American oak barrels as well as ex-bourbon barrels. We tend to age for a minimum of 3 years before incorporation into our final products, however we have several older barrels which we have not yet decided what we want to use them for. One of my favorite expressions so far is of the sugar cane juice distillate aged 18 months in port barrels. I tried this on a whim and the results are very encouraging, this will probably end up as a single barrel product.
At the moment we have under taken a research project with Radoux France (barrel makers) whereby they have done extensive analysis of our various distillates and have come up with a series of barrel types for us to explore.
Q: How do people in the Seychelles like to drink their rum? Are there any cocktail recipes using ingredients not found elsewhere?
Seychellois usually enjoy rum with a variety of mixers. One of my favorite cocktails (which was developed by us) is the Lakanbiz (A Seychelles creole style bar, where they commonly serve a sugar cane punch known as “bakakan” in creole):
Glass: tin mug
Method: muddle lemongrass and mint. Press chili in a Boston glass shaker then add rum, ginger syrup, Cinnamon syrup and lime juice. Shake and double strain into tin mug filled with cubed ice. Garnish with lemongrass stem, a mint sprig and lemon twist.
Ingredients:
50ml Takamaka 8 years rum
Handful Chopped Lemongrass stem
2 thinly sliced Chili
Half handful Mint leaves
10ml Ginger syrup
¾ shot Cinnamon syrup
1 freshly squeezed lime juice
Garnish:
lemongrass stem, mint sprig and lemon twist
Q: What advice do you have for someone who is considering opening up their own distillery, much less being the distiller which is a huge responsibility in itself?
From the point of view of a small scale distillery operation I would suggest, firstly, that production should be based on the most easily sourced fermentable material. In most instances of rum production this tends to be molasses.
However, in the case of Seychelles, this has proven to be difficult, thus we have concentrated on fermentation using cane juice.
Secondly, I would suggest a relatively good working knowledge of all aspects of distiller y operation and production. I recently at tended the 5 -Day Rum Course run by the Rum University in conjunction with the Moonshine University in Louisville, Kentucky. Having previously only had very limited hands-on guidance in rum making (mostly from reading articles and a fermentation consultant) I found the course extremely edifying and stimulating. I would certainly recommend this to anyone involved in the rum making business no matter whether you are a seasoned pro or a beginner.
Q: Do you have any plans on producing other styles of rums? Any plans on producing
other spirits in the near future?
We are limited in the amount of rum we can produce so any new products would tend to be single barrel expressions or barrel blends.
We have recently started to examine local fruits, herbs and spices with the intention of making a local gin.
Q: Do you have a visitor’s center and/or do you offer tours of your distillery?
Trois Freres Distillery can be found at La Plaine St. Andre on Mahé. We are open to the public Mon to Fri – 9 am to 3:30 pm. Guided tours are available which include rum tasting.
Q: If people want to contact you, how may they reach you?
Anyone can contact me by email – dave@takamaka.sc
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
There is a lot of rum info out there, I enjoy reading the regular updates on the Facebook group ‘The GLOBAL RUM CLUB’, some of which can develop into some tasty banter, and also this magazine makes a very enjoyable read which I regularly look forward to.
Margaret: Again Mr. Boullé, thank you so much for this interview. I wish you and your team much success.
Cheers!
Margaret Ayala, Publisher