I visited the Rum paradise: GUADALUPE!

I spent April 2022 in Guadalupe, in the French Caribbean. During this entire month living in paradise, I had the opportunity to work from the jungle, eat and drink locally, and learn everything I could about the heritage of a rich culture.

Holidays are always a good opportunity to dive into new folklore. Even if Guadalupe is a region of France, the culture is obviously very unique and different from the continent.

Rum paradise is located on the West Indies, in a French island.

A SHOT OF HISTORY

The history of rum is deeply rooted in one of the darkest periods in History. Slavery was the backbone of the sugar economy from the 17th to the late 19th century.

The exploitation of sugar cane and the production of spirits across the Caribbean were heavily using slaves from day one and left a tremendous heritage until nowadays.

Guadalupe was originally called Karukera ("the island with beautiful waters"), by its first occupants, the Caribbean Native Americans. Guadalupe was then named after "Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe" by Christopher Columbus in November 1493. There, he found waterfalls, jungle, the sun, a beautiful sea, but - yet - no rum!

Even if the island is only 1 628 km2, you can find no less than 10 distilleries!

PICK YOUR BRAND

With 10 producers of rum still running their activities in a very artisanal way, the rum's road is a must-do when visiting the French Caribbean island.

A distillery tour is most of the time open, free, with no guide, and it always ends with a tasting!

You have plenty of choice between Bologne, Espérance (Longueteau, Karukera), Damoiseau, Bielle, Père Labat or Poisson, Bellevue, Montebello, Gwadinina, Papa Rouyo, Séverin, and last but not least Reimonenq, which is my favorite! ??

FROM CANE TO RUM

Visit Guadalupe and you will have no choice but to notice the intensive fields of sugar cane everywhere from Grande-Terre to Basse-Terre and all over Marie-Galante.

Originally, the sugar business was the base of the local economy and the largest provider of jobs in the West Indies... until beetroot took over for a cheaper price, and producers changed from producing sugar to distilling rum. ??????

The process remains the same century after century, with just a little evolution as technology improved.

If you are in Guadalupe between February and July, you'll probably see some fields still full of grown-up sugarcane, and others already cut - or get slow down on the road due to a truck carrying the canes to the nearest factory!

The step-by-step process

Sugarcane reaches a maturity peak (with the highest rate of sugar) between February and July. Then, it is hand-cut and transported to distilleries where the transformation process starts.

There, we grind the cane, add water and then press it to extract all the juice. After filtration, we have the vésou on one hand, and the solid rest, on the other hand, called bagasse (often re-used as fuel).

The liquid then goes to tanks to start the fermentation process that lasts one day or more (30h for the Habitation Bellevue). There, the natural yeasts transform sugar into alcohol.

This fermented juice is called vin ("wine") and contains around 5% to 6% alcohol.

The next step is sending the liquid to the distillation column to extract the alcohol and obtain a rum with 70 to 80% alcohol.

After reduction by adding pure water, the level of rum in Guadalupe goes from 40% to 59% (in Marie-Galante), with an average consumption grade of 50%, which is higher than the 40% rum consumed in continental France.

DARK HISTORY / PROUD HERITAGE

The plantation is called "habitation" referring to the darkest times when White masters lived and ran the sugarcane business enrolling slaves to work in fields and the factory.

More than 300 slaves could work in some of these plantations, like Habitation Murat on the island of Marie-Galante. In 1839, its highest year of production, it was the largest one of Guadalupe.

You can read more about this dark chapter of History in this very well-documented blog article: Black Heritage History - Did You Know?

Finally, you have plenty of ways to enjoy your rum:

• Neat in the morning (also known as "décollage" which literally means lift-off),
• as a traditional Ti Punch or CSR - which stands for Citron (lime), Sugar, Rum,
• Ti Vieux, with old rum, lime, and sugar,
• Planteur, adding fresh fruit juice to your white rum,
• or Punch, where you previously aged white rum in a bottle with fruits, vanilla, sugarcane juice, canella, etc.

BREW IS THE NEW RUM

People are not only drinking rum in Guadalupe - there is a rise in craft beers too!

On top of the popular Gwada, Corsaire, or Carib beers, there is a trend of local craft breweries building hipster beers with a local twist to reflect the gastronomical heritage of the island.

Both located in Basse-Terre (the lowest part of the island), the Lekouz brewery and Les Bières de La Lézarde brew locally and offer 2 different vibes to sip your refresher.

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In any case, drink responsibly. Santé!

-Adrien Rosier