Rum · Region · Reference page
Martinique
French Caribbean island where enslaved people freed themselves in May 1848 and where rhum agricole became the dominant style. It holds the first rum AOC, recognised in 1996.
Character
Rhum agricole from fresh cane juice, column-distilled; white, wood-rested and aged (vieux) categories.
From sugar colony to rhum agricole
Sugar cane was grown in Martinique from about 1640. Until the end of the nineteenth century sugar was made on habitations, plantation units which, as this atlas states plainly, were worked by enslaved Africans until 1848; the AOC specification's own history does not mention slavery. On 22 May 1848 an uprising at Saint-Pierre forced the governor to proclaim abolition the next day, before the Paris decree of 27 April could be applied.
Rum was long a cheap molasses by-product. After France removed customs duties in 1854, Martinique became the world's leading rum producer in the 1890s, with more than 220,000 hl at 55 % vol. The 1884-1896 sugar crisis pushed estates towards rhum agricole. After the destruction of Saint-Pierre, the island recovered within some fifteen years to remain mainland France's main rum supplier.
The AOC
Recognised in 1996, the AOC covers all of the island's communes except islets and rocks, with delimited cane parcels. Its rules on cane, fermentation, column distillation and ageing are summarised under rhum agricole.
How it connects
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- StoryA history of rumBarbados
- StyleRhum agricoleProtected name
- HistoryAOC Rhum de la Martinique recognised (1996)5 November 1996
- HistoryEmancipation in Martinique (22-23 May 1848)22-23 May 1848
- MethodColumn still (Coffey still)Distillation
- StoryCoffee: from Ethiopian forests to the world's cafésEthiopia
- IngredientSugarcaneSaccharum officinarum (and hybrids with S. spontaneum and other wild Saccharum)
- RegionBarbadosBarbados
- StyleCachaçaProtected name
- HistoryBlack Tot Day: end of the navy rum ration (1970)31 July 1970