History of French Rhum

A Brief History of French Rhum

8000 BC - 1493

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is a tropical grass native to Asia. The people of New Guinea were probably the first to domesticate sugarcane, sometime around 8,000 BC. After domestication, its cultivation spread rapidly to Southeast Asia. By the sixth century AD, sugar cultivation and processing had reached Persia. Europeans were introduced to sugar during the Crusades. By the 11th century AD, sugar was being imported throughout Europe. Christopher Columbus likely brought the plant to the West Indies during his second trip in 1493.

Christopher Columbus.

16th - 18th century

The main colonial powers did not take long to start growing sugarcane in the new world colonies to produce sugar, a luxury product at the time. By the end of the 17th century, British, French and Spanish were producing sugar and a spirit obtained by controlled fermentation and distillation of a sugarcane byproduct called molasses. They named it rum (English), rhum (French) and ron (Spanish). It was also likely discovered around the same time that a similar distillation process could be applied to the sugarcane juice to make a rum that is today known as Agricole rum.

1640 - Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre
(Pere Du Tertre)

In 1640, Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre, a French missionary was sent the the Antilles where he designed a rudimentary pot still (alambic in French) to process the byproducts of sugar mills.

1694 - Jean-Baptiste Labat
(Pere Labat)

In 1694, Jean-Baptiste Labat, another French clergyman visited the West Indies and perfected the process of "rhum" making using more advanced equipment. He gave his name to a distillation method used in Martinique and Guadeloupe and also in various locations like Guyane, Haiti, Marie-Galante (where a "rhum" was name after him).

1735 - Bertrand-Francois Mahe de La Bourdonnais

In 1735, Bertrand-Francois Mahe de La Bourdonnais was named governor of Isle de France (now Mauritius) and Isle Bourbon (now Reunion). His arrival coincided with development of a prosperous economy based on sugar production. A rum was named after him in Mauritius.

1815

In 1815, Charles Panon-Desbassyns established the first modern distillery in Reunion island.

1845

In 1845, Charles Isautier who arrived in Reunion island in 1832 with his brother Louis purchased the sugar estate de Chateauvieux to create the distillery Isautier.

1850

In 1850, Dr Pierre Charles Francois Harel proposed the concept of local distillation of "rhum" in Mauritius. As a result of his efforts several distilleries were established in the island starting from 1852.

1870

In 1870, sugarcane accounted for 57% of Martinique arable lands. Sugar prices plunged heavily due to worldwide over production and the growing availability in Europe of beet sugar. To survive a number of distilleries started make rum directly from fresh sugarcane juice instead of molasses. The rhum agricole was born or rather reborn. This peculiar way of making rum helped the French producers to avoid confrontation with other islands where sugar production ratios were much higher.