A History of French Rum 6. The Dawn of Agricultural Rum

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        A HISTORY OF FRENCH RUM 6. THE DAWN OF                                                  AGRICULTURAL RUM

As we have seen in the previous article, the success of beet sugar forced French Sugar Planters to specialize and concentrate their production. In this way they were able to survive as sugar producers and to produce plenty of rum too. Not only did they survive, they developed advanced production methods. If up to the beginning of 1800s British producers made the best rum, in the second half of the century French producers, followed by Cuban ones and then others, developed and adopted the most advanced techniques and the quality of their rum improved greatly. On the contrary, British Planters lagged behind, as  has often happened in economic history when backward countries and  producers were quicker to adopt new techniques than more advanced ones.

In those same years French Planters had to face a new challenge, the end of slavery, on which the sugar industry had always been based. Significantly, the Dominican Historian Frank Moya-Pons titles a whole chapter of his book (History of the Caribbean) “Sugar without Slaves in the British and French Antilles”. Revolutionary France had abolished slavery as early as 1794, but Napoleon re-introduced it and it took another Revolution to end slavery for good in April 1848. 

Just like in the British islands, the ex-slaves escaped from the sugar plantations, and relied on subsistence farming and short periods of paid employment. All over the Caribbean, the Planters resorted to the importation of Indentured Workers from Europe, Africa and Asia, mainly from Portugal, Sierra Leone and India. By contracting foreign laborers, mechanizing their sugar mills, fertilizing their lands with guano, the Caribbean Planters managed to save their sugar industry despite the economic crisis caused by emancipation. Some of these workers went back home at the end of their contract, but many stayed on and their descendants even now are part of the demographic mosaic of the Caribbean.  

Something new happened in rum production. Until then, rum had been a by-product of sugar making, and sugar was the commodity which producers were most interested in. Now, as Guy Josa writes in “Les industries du sucre et du rhum a la Martinique 1639-1931” (1931), an independent rum industry came into being. After 1892, due to the drop in the price of sugar, the last traditional plantations closed down and rum was no more an annexed activity, but it replaced and complemented sugar production. “In St-Pierre, a proper rum industry continues with the so-called Industrial Rum Distilleries that independently from sugar cane cultivation, devote themselves to transforming the molasses from the factories lacking a distilling apparatus or the molasses imported from Guadeloupe and the English islands of St-Kitts and from Demerary.…

“Here is the data on several countries’ exportation of sugar from 1890 to 1900 

Martinique                      17.160.000 litri a 55°

Demerary                       15.990.000

Jamaique                       10.591.000

Maurice                          3.240.000

Trinidad                          540.000

Guadeloupe                   2.887.000

Sainte-Lucie                   258.000

Réunion                         1.651.000

Paramaibo (Guy. Hol.)   528.000

Sainte-Croix                  365.000 

According to P.B. Alibert, “La fabuleuse aventure du Rhum” 2005,  “In that period, the Ministry of Merchant Marine of France sent the chemist- pharmacist Pairault in order to study, for the first time, different kinds of rum and their fermentation. Within his remit, Pairault visited the rum distilleries of the Caribbean and sojourned in Saint Pierre for a long period. He had the extraordinary good fortune that his mission ended in April, which allowed him to leave Martinique one month before the eruption.” The terrible eruption of Mont-Pelée, in fact, happened on 8 May 1902; it destroyed Saint-Pierre completely and killed about 30.000 people. Back in France, Pairault published in 1903 “Le rhum et sa fabrication” (“Rum and its production”) from which I have taken the following excerpts. As always, I apologize for the translation. 

“But at the time of the founding of big central sugar manufacturing factories in Martinique and Guadeloupe, many small proprietors found it more convenient and advantageous to turn their cane juice into rum rather than make it into sugar themselves (obviously inferior) or sell their canes to the central factories. From then on, a number of small agricultural distilleries were formed. The produce was obtained directly from the vesou (cane juice) and is called rhum d’habitant (farmer’s rum). This rum is certainly better than any other, but it’s reserved for local consumption. On the other hand, the consumption of rum is increasing in France and factories producing sugar do not have distilleries large enough to be sufficient. Significant distilleries called rhummeries industrielles (industrial rum distilleries) were established in Saint-Pierre (Martinique). They only use cane molasses purchased from sugar producers as a raw material. As a result, the city of Saint-Pierre (Martinique) became the most important center of the rum industry, not only for the French West Indies, but for the whole world.” 

In a specific note, Pairault explains the meaning of some words, which evidently was not clear for the public at large in France. Here it is: “In the Antilles, they call habitant the farmers who farm  their own lands … All the fields and buildings on the property are called habitation.”

And here we have the first accurate description of this “new” rum. “Cane juice rum, recent or preserved in glass, has a quite specific sweet aroma, reminiscent of the smell that we breathe near a cane mill in activity. For a connoisseur, this rum is certainly superior to any others. However, it sells for less and its production is much less significant than that of molasses rum (export rum). Farmer’s rum, especially that of raw cane juice, is entirely consumed locally... The Creole with infinite reason prefer local rum to industrial rum. The Agricultural rum distilleries therefore only work for local consumption. This is because the big importers of rum in France do not want local rum because they say the public would not want it. It is clear that these fine rums are not much like the frightful mixtures that are sold daily to the public in France under the name of rum with amazing brands and labels. ... However, it is no less true that the public, having never had any other rum than what is sold in France, think that this is good rum and do not ask for any other. But for years, I have been able to convince myself that almost all the Europeans who had had the opportunity to taste cane juice rum from the French West Indies found it to be superior to that of the trade” 

We can see that Pairault does not call it agricultural rum yet. He calls it rhum de vesou (cane juice rum) and he calls rhummeries industrielles (agricultural rum distilleries) the distilleries that produced it. He goes on to say that the great merchants who import rum to France from the islands do not want this cane juice rum. They prefer the ordinary industrial rum. 

“The most serious and probably the only reason for the importers’ ostracism against cane juice rums is, I think I can say, that these rums do not so easily support sophistication. They are too fine; their scent is not violent enough to support cutting with grains or beets alcohols on a large scale. On the contrary, by using export rums with strong aromas produced by the rum industry in Martinique, at the request of the importers (who never find aroma rather strong). A single barrel of rum and alcohol from the North which doesn’t need to be very fine, can produce 4 to 5 barrels (or even more) of alcohol sold as Martinique rum.”

 If I may introduce a personal note, I love agricultural rum, above all the many wonderful white, unaged rums that do not need ageing. A good white rum (both from molasses and cane juice) is not easy to produce: without the contribution of the barrel, it is all about careful fermentation and then skillful distillation, (see my article “White Rum Renaissance” published in the January 2017 issue). And agricultural rum was born precisely with these characteristics. Let’s not forget that Pairault published his book in 1903, when it was virtually unknown. Reading this book today, when agricultural rum is finally taking its rightful role among connoisseurs all over the world, I can’t help being touched: this book tells us the dawn of agricultural rum and at the same time begins to create its myth.

Before bidding farewell to Pairault, here is a passage which does not concern agricultural rum directly, but which at the time caused a backlash and which I think is very interesting today for all lovers of rum and its history. Given the sensitivities surrounding this issue, I prefer to quote first the original text in French and  then its English translation.

“La Jamaique produit une quantité considérable de rhum exporté presque en entier aux Etats-Unis et en Angleterre où une bonne partie est trasformée en whisky. Elle produit une sorte de rhum extrèmement odorant que les Anglais appellent ‘German rum’ rhum allemand ou ‘stynking rum’ rhum puant. Ces rhums sont Presque exclusivement exportés à Hamburg; et, sur place, à la Jamaique même, ils se paient 3 à 4 fois le prix du bon rhum ordinaire. Ces rhums son en effet si odorants qu’ils permettent un coupage pour ainsi dire illimité avec des alcool neutres. A la Jamaique les marchands de rhum dissent sérieusement que c’est au terroir et à la facon de distiller que ces rhums doivent leur parfum si intense. J’ai aujourd’hui assez d’experience en rhummerie pour ne pas craindre de me tromper en affirmant que ces aromes si intenses sont dus à des sauces dans lesquelles entrent la peau un peu échauffée ou ayant subi un court séjour dans les fosses de tannerie et, ainsi que je l’ai su, une très petite quantité d’infusion alcoolique de tabac a chiquer américain en tablettes, marque J. H. Maclin’S Virginia. On y ajoute parfois aussi des traces d’iris. Il en est de même pour les vieux rhums; il suffit d’examiner, ainsi que je l’ai fait, le rhum blanc sortant de l’alambic pour s’assurer que ce rhum n’est ni meilleur ni plus mauvais que celui que l’on obtenait dans les bonnes rhummeries de Saint-Pierre, et que ce rhum, en vieillissant naturellement, ne peut donner ni le stynking rum, ni la plupart des rhums vendus fort cher comme très vieux.”

“Jamaica produces a considerable amount of rum almost exclusively exported to the United States and England, where much of it is turned into whisky. It produces an extremely fragrant rum that the English call “German rum” or “stinking rum”. These rums are almost exclusively exported to Hamburg and locally, in Jamaica, they pay 3 or 4 times the price of good rum. These rums are indeed so fragrant that they can be cut unlimited, so to speak, with neutral spirits. In Jamaica the rum dealers seriously say that it is the land and the method of distilling which makes the fragrance of the rums so intense. Now I have enough experience in rum making to not be afraid of being mistaken by saying that these strong aromas are due to some sauces in which enter the hide slightly heated or by having a short stay in a tannery pit and, as I knew, a very small quantity of alcoholic infusion in American chewing tobacco tablets, brand J.H. Maclin’S Virginia. Sometimes traces of iris are added. It is the same for old rums; it is enough to examine, as I did, the white rum coming out of the still to make sure that this rum is neither better nor worse than the one obtained from the good rum distilleries in Saint-Pierre, and that this rum, by ageing naturally, can give neither the stynking rum, nor most of the rums sold for a high price as very old.”

 But let’s get back to the dawn of agricultural rum. In 1946 D. Kervégant  published his monumental  “Rhum et eaux-de-vie de canne”. A colossal work, which I have read only partially. As far as I know, in all specialist literature on rum, perhaps only Rafael Arroyo’s work is on a par with it. It would deserve to be better known by scholars and enthusiasts alike. What follows are just a few extracts about the period which is of interest to us in this article.

“However, in 1859, a columnist could write, on the occasion of an agricultural exhibition held in Fort-de-France: ‘The art of working with metals has been perfected among us, at the same time as popularization and knowledge of distillation... The tafia, thanks to these precious changes, is no longer what it once was. It no longer inspires delicate palates with a legitimate horror; it is no longer considered, unless it is abused, as a dangerous poison. Some 30 years ago, all our spirits were included under the same name, we do not make rum, this legitimate brother of tafia was banished from the paternal roof, and the drink which the wealthy people consumed under this name was provided by the English islands, including Jamaica and Grenada. At this time, we are nearer to yielding the delicious liquor to these colonies than to ask them ... and the rum that comes out of the stills of some of our great owners or vinegar makers is equal to that of the Grenada. ‘ From 1880, the continuous column stills were gradually replacing the old pot stills in the important rum distilleries in Martinique and Guadeloupe, while the English continued to remain faithful to the them.“

“Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, profound changes have affected the structure of the rum industry and manufacturing techniques. Until about 1865, when the central factories began to replace the old sugar houses, the rum distillery was an annex to the sugar refinery. ...Rum having a limited outlet, many of the most important houses did not possess distilleries; they sold their molasses for export, or, more rarely, in the colonies, even to distillers established in the cities. This organization has continued until today in Jamaica ... Meanwhile, in some colonies, notably in French West Indies and French Guiana, agricultural distilleries are established, carrying out the direct alcoholisation of the cane. ... These spirits acquired a rather large importance from 1883, when the low price of sugar made it less profitable to manufacture it, but especially from the First World War. At present, rhums agricoles represent about 50% of total production in Martinique, 35% in Guadeloupe and nearly 100% in French Guiana“ 

And this is the first time that I have met the very words rhums agricoles, agricultural rums. With this article I end this series A HISTORY OF FRENCH RUM. I think I have succeeded in showing how French rum deserves a very important place in the history of rum and I hope that other researchers will continue to study and delve more deeply into this theme. 

Post Scriptum

After writing this article, I found that the Boston Apothecary Blog (www.bostonapothecary.com), which for years has been carrying out important research and disseminating the culture of rum, is now translating  Kervégant’s book into English. Very well done!

Marco Pierini