Mauritius rum, a speciality of the region, has a history almost as long as that of the island. Today a real institution, you can visit a distillery if you travel the tea route.
Discover all the secrets of the history of rum production in Mauritius, a true cultural emblem of the island.
Depending on the desired rum (traditional or agricultural) and its colour, production methods differ, but the main stages are always the same: fermentation, distillation, blending and ageing.
First, the rods are chopped and their fibres removed before being crushed. The crushing is done in several stages, and each time, the canes are sprayed with water to extract the juice more easily. The cane juice, also called vesou, is filtered and then brought to the tanks used for fermentation.
During fermentation, the sugar is transformed into alcohol due to the presence of yeast and becomes a kind of cane wine, very lightly loaded with alcohol. It is this mixture that will then be distilled: steam is introduced at the bottom of the column, and the wine in the middle sees its quantity of alcohol decrease as the descent progresses. The liquid rising with heat is the most alcoholic: it is rum.
At the exit of the column, the rum is considered as white agricultural rum. Depending on the maturing time, its nature then changes: the agricultural amber rum remains in barrels for 18 months, the old agricultural rum for more than 3 years!
The introduction of sugar cane by the Dutch
The Dutch arrived on the island in 1639 and introduced sugar cane almost immediately, bringing it from the island of Java.
The development of sugar cane production was slow because the local population was only interested in it later and some fields were completely devastated by disease in the second half of the 17th century.
In 1710, the Dutch abandoned the island and sugar cane production and destroyed all the facilities used for production. This is put everything on hold for a few years.
The arrival of the French and the resumption of production
The French arrived 5 years later on the island in 1715 and the name of the island was changed to "l'isle de France". Unfortunately, the French were not familiar with the Dutch production methods, so production took time to restart.
The first sweets appeared around 1740 thanks to officer Mahé de la Bourdonnais.
However, the distilleries produced a very bad rum, called "Guildive", derived from the English "kill devil".
Export success
In 1809, France gave Mauritius the exclusive right to produce rum against its neighbouring competitor, Reunion Island. Thus, in 1830, there were 135 distilleries on the island!
However, the island was already taken over by the English (in 1814), at the time of Napoleon's fall.
The island's producers were authorised to sell the product on the English market but also to export to Madagascar, the Seychelles and West Africa. As a result, production increases.
Rum as a victim of politics
The local population also consumed rum, in the form of grog called "topette", but its popularity gradually decreased due to the poor quality of the alcohol resulting from poor distillation. In 1933, poorly distilled alcohol was even banned on the island, with only the production of traditional rum still allowed (agricultural rum became banned).
With the end of the colonies, production decreased because imports decreased and products were heavily taxed. Production became largely clandestine.
On the other hand, sugar production increased, and even amounted to 4/5 of the land cultivated in 1921.
Rum production resumed during the Second World War, since alcohol was exported for British soldiers on the front line. There was even a time when rum began to be used as fuel during a shortage of petrol.
Production since independence
In 1968, Mauritius became independent and took the name we know today.
Rum producers imposed preferential tariffs on European countries for the export of rum, but the production of agricultural rum was banned. Indeed, local authorities consider it a waste of cane juice. Only traditional rum is produced, with molasses.
Since then, Mauritian rum has largely moved up the range, and a few distilleries share its production on the island.
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