THE ARCHETYPAL INDIAN OCEAN  paradise island, Mauritius has it all – white-sand beaches, turquoise waters, swaying palm trees. It has a melting pot of cultures, having been variously invaded by the Dutch, French and English before gaining independence in 1968 and finally becoming a republic in 1992. It has miles of sugar cane fields. It has vanilla and pineapples and lychees. It had the dodo bird, its national symbol, until that was hunted to extinction in the 17th century.

And it has rum. In fact, Mauritius recently became one of the few places in the world to produce two types of rum, both molasses and agricole. Until 2006 there was a prohibition on the production of agricole – rum made from sugar cane juice – as the island was so heavily reliant on its sugar-refining industry, but with the lifting of that ban came a minor explosion of the product and Mauritius is now setting out its stall as a global provider of agricole rum.

To cement that decision, back in August Mauritius held its first ever rum festival, recruiting self-styled global rum ambassador Ian Burrell to curate the three-day jamboree, which comprised blind tastings, lectures and bartender competitions, culminating in a trade-based rum fair and consumer rum fiesta.

The festival was backed by trade promotion organisation Enterprise Mauritius, representatives of which attended Burrell’s RumFest in London last year and decided that was just the type of event needed to relaunch the island’s rum industry “because it has seen so much development and research”. And it came at just the right time, as the future for rum is looking particularly bright – International Wine & Spirits Research released earlier this year showed strong growth potential in regions where rum remains relatively underdeveloped, including central and eastern Europe and the Balkans, the CIS, east Asia and the Middle East. The research pinpointed a 4.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2006 and 2011, and showed total sales standing at 146.4m nine-litre cases.

While there are only a handful of distilleries in Mauritius, between them they are well-placed to expand the burgeoning rum sector globally with a variety of aged, spiced, overproof and flavoured rums exploiting the diverse fruits and flavours of the island. 

Speaking at the opening of the Mauritian Rum Festival Burrell told the assembled producers and visitors: “These are some of the best rums I have seen in the world. Mauritius has indigenous flavours, spices and fruits that we can infuse and you should be promoting the way of life as well as the category.”

But he added: “This is a long race – it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Rum is one of the fastest growing spirits categories in the world and you guys are right in the middle of it.”

The front-runners include Medine Distillery, one of the largest producers and the oldest distillery in Mauritius, having been in continuous operation since 1926 and boasting 3,300ha of sugar cane fields producing 40,000 tonnes of sugar a year. 

Medine supplies other distilleries, including Green Island, with molasses and is responsible for Pink Pigeon, a light brown rum distilled from fermented molasses and blended with Madagascar vanilla, distributed by UK-based Berry Bros & Rudd. It also produces the recently released sister brand Penny Blue (see What’s New, pages 12/13).

Medine general manager Jean-Francis Koenig is optimistic about the global opportunities for his island’s rums. “There is a new dynamism in the rum business in Mauritius and we are trying to establish a Mauritian rum category on export markets which is new for us. It will take some time and effort and expense but we are confident we are going to succeed,” he says. “Our strategy for Medine is a partnership with an established, recognised company, for example Berry Bros in the UK, and we must put both capabilities together.”

From the oldest distillery to one of the newest. Rhumerie de Chamarel opened its doors in 2008 to make the most of the lifting of prohibition (the other possibility for the land had been a golf course) and has 35ha of sugar cane fields dedicated to making agricole rum. A swish visitor centre offers guided tours of the process, which involves crushing sugar cane fibres three times and filtering the liquid twice to produce rums which include a three-year-old oak-barrel matured VO, an 18-month aged Gold and a Premium White. 

Sales executive Wenda Bheeka says some 45% of the annual 250,000-litre rum production at Chamarel is exported to France, Finland, Switzerland, China and Japan. “Very soon we are hoping to export to the UK and Russia, but we are not in a hurry. We are very new in our own market.”

Very much on the export trail is the premium Blue Mauritius Gold, which is currently in eight markets having only launched in September 2012. “We wanted to do something different,” says brand owner Blue Liquors managing director Frédéric Bestel. Blue Mauritius is made with molasses bought from the Grays Distillery on the island, held in port barrels for three months before going through filtration and adjustment then spending a further eight to 12 months in barrel.

“We are targetting whisky and bourbon drinkers,” says Bestel. “We exported 18,000 bottles in the first year and we’re planning 60,000 bottles next year.” And the spirit is certainly attracting attention in global markets – it picked up a nomination for Spirit of the Year at the Mixology bar Awards 2014. While it lost out in the final in Berlin, Bestel says: “We’re so proud to have been nominated – it’s like in soccer, playing the Champions League.”

Another relative newcomer to agricole distilling is St Aubin, whose 1819 brand is named for the year the plantation first became a sugar estate, with its iconic square chimney now reflected in the bottle shape. The estate prides itself on its ‘green’ credentials, being a pioneer of pot still rum agricole and being the only Mauritian distillery to use its own spring water in the coupage. It now also has a copper column still to increase production. 

Commercial & business development manager Yousouf Ismael, says of the rums, which only came into production five years ago:  “Three or four years ago we began exporting for the Mauritian diaspora in the UK and France – French-speaking countries especially have a penchant for agricole. It’s a family estate and everything we use is natural. Vanilla rum is our biggest seller.”

The vanilla is all grown on the estate, which also boasts a tea plantation alongside the 5,000ha of sugar cane. The company is now looking to export to the States, China and Africa. “The growth for vodka is over and now people are focussing on rum,” says Ismael.

New and funky

St Aubin is also a partner with NPK, probably the funkiest of all the new generation Mauritian rums, made from sugar cane on a vertical still so it can be taken to a third distillation, and aimed firmly at the younger market.

Distributor Sunairsea general manager Jack McLaughlin says he was asked to import rum into Europe and noticed younger people wanting a new product which was “more conscious of the environment”. Packaged in a recyclable aluminium bottle, NPK comes in Ginger & Apple, Orange Spicy, Melon, Strawberry and Mint & Liquorice flavours, as well as Gold Essential and Pure White.

And just last month Essential Gold, Melon and Orange Spicy won double gold medals at the CWSA in Hong Kong, with Apple Ginger taking bronze. “We are dead chuffed that our start-up company won these awards,” says McLaughlin.

Certainly the brand attracted favourable reviews from some of the importers at the Mauritian Rum Festival. Prem Naidu, of nearest mainland neighbour South Africa’s Next Generation Beverage Group, describes NPK as “really vibrant”. He adds; “The packaging is not in the old mould of clear bottles and staid dark and white. I particularly enjoyed the apple and ginger it doesn’t come across as too sweet. I see it working initially in the on-trade, which is where new brands in SA have to start. It’s a challenge but NPK says pretty, it says fun.”

Orchards and cane fields

In a similar vein to St Aubin is Rhumerie des Mascareignes, which produces the agricole La Bourdonnais range of Blanc, Pailee and Ambré rums and the Rhumeur premier range.

The La Bourdonnais distillery was built in 2008 at the 150-year-old 450ha estate which comprises some 50ha of orchards alongside the 360ha of sugar cane. Rhumerie des Mascareignes director Jean Francois Lagesse says the company intended to make a niche product and was trying to diversify with flavoured rums using fruits produced in its orchard.

While it sells mainly on the local market it does export in bulk to the UK and France

Lagesse says: “This business is quite competitive so we have to see if we can find a partner so we can secure a market. We are trying to find our little space in this world. We want to have a product which mirrors what you see around the estate, using our own fruits.”

One of the biggest players is International Distillers Mauritius, which produces one of the most familiar Mauritian rums, the molasses-based Green Island, under which brand the three-year-old Oaked was launched last year. This year it also joined the agricole sector with its Starr African rum for the US market and boasts within its stable the interesting Tilambic 151 Overproof. Tilambic is the Creole name for the stills used by the farmers in the countryside making their own home rums. 

This seven-year-old molasses rum is column distilled through 30ft column stills, then aged in whisky casks for seven years. It is unfiltered and reduced to 151 proof for bottling. But the rum can only be sold outside of Mauritius where the permitted abv limit is 50%. At 75.5% Tilambic is well over this. According to Green Island’s Yogen Bacha, the product is nicknamed ‘Vicious from Mauritius’ in London, where it is a staple of tiki bars.

It might be a small island, but Mauritius has certainly embraced the diversity of rum as a spirit and is already proving it can produce world-class agricole spirit alongside its traditional rums, in a wide variety of styles and flavours.

And the artisanal approach of the distillers is bound to attract attention, says Miami-based rum expert Robert Burr. “The craft movement is good to have and those producers are winning awards. People are open to discovering what the new craft spirits are. We can expect Mauritius to arrive very soon.”