Habitation Beauséjour (HBS)

Like most Rums from Martinique, Rhum HBS is a Rhum Agricole, i.e. made from fresh sugar cane juice, but without AOC certification. This gives the distillery more freedom in the production process, such as the use of an Alambic still - instead of a column still - which characterises the distillery character of Habitation Beauséjour. The small distillery in Grand'Rivière emphasises quality over quantity. This is why only around 2,000 bottles of Rum are produced each year, which are only available on the German market to a limited extent.

Due to the start of production in 2020, the distillery's range has so far mainly consisted of white Rums. The Rhum Agricole HBS Cuvée La Dame Jeanne was distilled in 2023 and has fruity flavours thanks to a relatively long fermentation period and distillation in an Alambic still. At 53% vol., it has the same alcohol content as the Cuvée Le Voyageur. This also comes from the year 2023 and has flavours of tropical fruit and banana. The HBS Brut d'Alambic is bottled directly from the still at a strong 73% vol. Here, too, you can taste the fruity character of the distillery. Beauséjour now has a rhum vieux, the Rhum HBS Le Flamboyant, which has been matured for three years in French oak barrels.

Habitation Beauséjour is located in a very remote location in the middle of lush tropical vegetation in the north of Martinique in the municipality of Grand'Rivière. To get there, you have to cross the Potiche River. This is possible via a metal bridge, the highest and longest in Martinique. The distillery benefits from the fertile soil on the slopes of the Montagne Pelée when growing its sugar cane. In places, the harvest can only be done by hand, as the terrain is quite rough in places.

The distillation process at Habitation Beauséjour is carried out using an Alambic still, which originally comes from the south-west of France and has already been used for the distillation of Cognac and Armagnac. 900 litres of sugar wine (vin de sucre) are poured into the pot still of the Alambic with stirring mechanism and heated by direct gas firing. The alcohol vapours rise to approx. 30% vol. and are passed through pipes into the rectifier. This is used to soften the raw spirit through a lot of copper contact. The rectifier can also be variably adjusted: residue can be pumped back into the pot using a small pump. The condensate can also be returned to the still. After the alcohol vapours have been liquefied again in a condenser, approx. 75 litres of Rum with 70 to 75% vol. are obtained.

Beauséjour's Alambic can produce a maximum of 100 litres of Rum at 50% vol. per day. The annual production volume is around 2,000 bottles.

A total of 60 hectares of sugar cane can be cultivated on the Habitation Beauséjour estate. However, only 3 hectares per season are used for the company's own Rhum HBS, which is harvested by hand. The remaining sugar cane, which is also harvested by machine, is sold by the small distillery to the nearby J.M distillery in Macouba. HBS grows three types of sugar cane for its own Rum: Canne Bleue, Canne Rouge and the Vanilla variety.

After harvesting, the whole sugar cane stalks are placed individually in a small mill. Harvesting by hand is therefore also necessary to avoid pieces of sugar cane that are too short. No additional water is added during the pressing process. The remaining cane fibres, the bagasse, therefore still contain some sugar and moisture. Nevertheless, HBS does not press the fibres any further and only uses the juice from the first run. This results in around 900 litres of sugar cane juice per tonne, which is very sugary and is slightly diluted before it is sent for further fermentation.

The pressed sugar cane juice, the vesou, is fermented at HBS for around two to three days in closed stainless steel tanks. After this time, the result is a sugar wine (vin de sucre) with 6 to 7 per cent alcohol. The alcohol content is therefore somewhat higher than in some other distilleries, as the sugar content is also higher at the beginning due to the single pressing.

After distillation, the white Rum Agricole is reduced by adding pure volcanic water and by aeration. This reductive ageing in stainless steel tanks makes the Rum even rounder. Some of the white Rum is then matured further in barrels. French oak barrels are mainly used for this, as well as ex-Bourbon, Cognac and Armagnac barrels and a few wine barrels.

As one of the smallest Rum distilleries in Martinique, Habitation Beauséjour only has a small barrel warehouse and sells its Rhum HBS mainly regionally.

The HBS distillery buildings are a historic property dating back to 1671, where sugar cane was first grown and then processed in a sugar cane factory. According to old records, the factory was converted into a distillery by the Aries brothers around 1883. It was further expanded a few years later with the acquisition of the Habitation by Amédée Alexis Augustin Knight, who was Senator of Martinique from 1899.

In 1928, Knight's descendants sold the Habitation Beauséjour to Pierre François Honoré Louis de Lucy de Fassarieu. Rum continued to be distilled until 1958, after which the company focussed solely on banana cultivation. Finally, de Lucy's descendants returned to their family tradition and started growing sugar cane again in 2007. In 2018, the family started to get back into the Rum business. The first Rhum HBS was distilled in 2020.

The small HBS Rum distillery in Grand'Rivière is open to the public and can be visited.