Sugar cane was introduced to the Americas by Christopher Columbus during his second trip in 1493. Imported from the Canary Islands, it was first cultivated on Hispanolia Island. Rum’s history begins somewhere around 1640. Cane spirits first made their first appearance on Barbados, an English possession at the time. To Father Labat (circa late 1600′s), we owe the improvement of the distillation process with the use of the alembic. Rum quickly made its way to Britain to please its aristocracy and in Rum Punch Houses. At the time, the world production of sugar was split between the two colonial powers, France and England. The English flooded New England with rum, which had become a unit of currency with America’s Native Peoples. This dark period of history sees the development of the large plantations and the trade in Black slaves.
In 1862, Dupré Barbancourt, a native of Charente in France, put the finishing touches to a recipe for rum that still bears his name today. Using his homeland’s double distillation method usually reserved for the very finest cognacs, he distills a unique product of incomparably quality which will regularly be recognized and receive the highest international distinctions, even today.
Rhum Barbancourt’s distillery, located on Chemin des Dalles in Port au Prince, Rhum Barbancourt is one of the most decorated rums in history as witnessed by the gallery of awards featured on it website site. You will find some of these medals printed on their labels, confirming the exceptional and unequaled character of this rum.
Today, over 600 hectares of land are exclusively dedicated to sugar cane cultivation for Rhum Barbancourt, counting the 20% of which are on Domain Barbancourt’s own plantations. Society of Rhum Barbancourt employs 250 persons and its direct and indirect rum production activities are responsible for the livelihood of 20,000 persons. Despite the modern installations, Society of Rhum Barbancourt, the eldest of Haitian industries, continues to produce rum in the purest tradition in line with every point in Monsieur Dupré Barbancourt’s original recipe.*
*http://www.barbancourt.net
