La Rhumerie de Chamarel

Though the Caribbean and Latin America are probably what you think of first when you think of rum, the island of Mauritius in the Indian ocean also has a proud rum heritage. Reflecting the island's French heritage, at Rhumerie de Chamarel the team produces rum from sugar cane juice rather than molasses. The sugar cane is harvested from the estate by hand between July and December. Within four hours it’s in the distillery to be pressed with the first press juice fermented using selected yeasts before distillation. At Chamarel they use two different processes, double distillation in two 20,000 litre copper stills similar to those used in Cognac, or continuous distillation in a copper Barbet column still. The distillate is rested for six months and either bottled as white rum, or goes on to ageing in a variety of casks.