Distilleriejm17 Distillerieiefondpreville Macouba MartiniqueI’ve always had a soft spot for this distillery, and I have to admit, it’s just splendid!
First of all, its geographical location… As you turn a bend in the road, you discover it with its red roofs set against a backdrop of lush tropical vegetation. A real postcard! The access road is lined with majestic trees and a cathedral of bamboo typical of northern Martinique.
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Distilleriejm7 Distillerieiefondpreville Macouba MartiniqueA small 19th-century stone bridge spans the river, which supplies the entire distillery with purified water. Spring water can be heard running everywhere. After passing the Place du Manguier, head for the reception area (just follow the big red dots on the ground).
Open house
Visits are free of charge. The map given to you at reception, the signposted route and the explanatory panels allow you to make the most of the site at your own pace.
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Distilleriejm11 Distillerieiefondpreville Macouba MartiniqueWe enter through a patio planted with five varieties of sugar cane used to make J.M. rums and validated by theAOC. J.M. produces 95% of its rum from its own cane, grown on land stretching from Basse-Pointe to Grand’Rivière! The garden features the typical layout of separate squares that once prevailed on the plantations. Audio terminals provide an enriching immersion experience.
Jardin Distilleriejm Distilleriefondpreville Macouba MartiniqueDuring the season, from February to June, the distillery’s three mills grind8 tonnes of freshly cut cane every 20 minutes in the Bellevue estate’s fields. The cane juice(vesou) is then filtered before being sent to the fermentation tanks. Bagasse, the dry residue of the cane, is used to power the boiler that generates the steam needed for distillation, and to fertilize the plantations: nothing is lost, everything is recycled.
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Distilleriejm13 Distillerieiefondpreville Macouba MartiniqueThe tour then takes us to the heart of the distillationprocess . It’s the height of the distillation period (from late January to June), and it’s all very impressive!
From crushing the cane to filling the 7 huge vats with the extracted juice, we follow every step of the way. The fermentation vats used to transform the vesou into cane wine give off a strong smell of alcohol and cane juice– I love it!
From the footbridges, we can see the two copper Creole columns; the tallest is 18 meters high!
Later in the walk, we’ll find the different elements of a column, to better understand the distillation process by looking at what’s going on inside.
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cooperage-fut-rhum-distillery-JM-macouba-martiniqueThe tour continues outside, stopping in front of the cooperage. This is whereEdmond, the cooper, repairs barrels and toasts special cuvées such as “Fumée volcanique “. We can see his tools and several barrels from different years, from 1975 to the present day.
Burning is an ancestral practice that caramelizes the tannins in the wood, accelerating the exchange between the wood in the barrel and the rum. This operation is carried out after the harvest and production campaigns.
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burning2-fut-rhum-distillery-JM-macouba-martiniqueThe tour then takes us to the public display cellar, which is quite spectacular! The stacked casks are arranged in a circular arc, as if in a scarlet amphitheatre. However, the cellars where the J.M. casks are stored are not open to the public.
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Jardin4 Distilleriejm Distilleriefondpreville Macouba MartiniqueIt ‘s truly magnificent… a journey into the heart of nature.
Now it’s time for a feast for the senses, as we head for the laboratory, where the sign announces: ” We smell, we taste, we analyze” . This is where the cellar master elaborates the taste of the different cuvées. We enter the olfactory workshop. Various globes of rum are lined up like decanters. We lift the cork, close our eyes and guess the aromatic notes of each rum: fruity, vegetal, floral, woody… These are the primary aromas, coming directly from the first stages of fermentation and distillation.
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Olfactory sense Rum Distillery JM Macouba MartiniqueA second workshop presents 7 secondaryaromas created by a perfumer-nose. These are the aromas that develop during fermentation and distillation – cinnamon, burnt wood, vanilla, tannin, citrus, etc. – and allow visitors to enter the world of J.M. rums. – These are the aromas that develop during fermentation and distillation – cinnamon, burnt wood, vanilla, tannin, citrus, etc. – and allow visitors to enter the world of J.M. rums. A wonderful discovery!
sensolfactif3-rhum-distillery-JM-macouba-martiniqueOur senses still very much alive, we move on to the tasting at the large green-tiled counter. I really like the red-green combination, which can be found everywhere in the distillery. I’m discovering vintages I’ve never tasted before, and it’s a real treat. The store is so beautiful, you want to buy everything!
As for me, I’m leaving with quite a load (I’m stocking up!): a rhum vieux XO, a rhum vieux “Terroir volcanique”, a rhum blanc “Jardin Macouba” (I love the bottle!) and a shrubb of course! Many thanks to the J.M distillery for this enchanting interlude…
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shop-rhum-distillery-JM-macouba-martinique* Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health, and should be consumed in moderation.
The distillery already operates a circular economy , recycling 100% of its waste. There are 3 types of waste: bagasse (leftover crushed cane), vinasse (leftover juice not transformed into rum), and boiler ash and dust. Bagasse is first burned to fuel the distillation column boiler. Another part is sent to the nearby thermal power plant to generate electricity. The remainder is used as compost to nourish the soil and prevent weeds from growing. The vinasse is transferred to large aeration tanks containing bacteria. The resulting water is used to irrigate cane and banana fields. As for the ashes and dusts, they are recovered and spread on the fields, providing the soil with the potash it needs from natural matter. At J.M., we pride ourselves on this circular economy, with the motto “I collect, I transform, I produce, I return “!
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