Neisson

Like many others in Martinique, the Rhum Agricole from the Neisson distillery has carried the AOC label since 1996. In addition to the use of pure sugar cane juice instead of molasses, strict regulations must be adhered to.

Neisson offers a wide range of white and brown Rums, as well as Cuvées. A distinction is made between old Rum (VO) and very old Rum (XO) for the brown Rums stored in wooden barrels. In addition, the distillery has been certified organic since 2017 and has also been producing corresponding Rum since then, such as Neisson Rhum Vieux Bio.

Sustainable agriculture is a top priority at Neisson. The sugar cane has never been burnt here, but has always been cut green. Fertiliser is mainly applied using bagasse and vinasse, the residues from production. The distillery also uses the steam produced when the bagasse is burnt for distillation.

In 2012, the distillery began the transition to organic farming.

Neisson distils the fermented sugar cane juice in a copper Savalle column still built in 1952. This distillation column, which has been continually improved by Jean Neisson, is filled to two-thirds capacity, whereby the sugar cane juice is distributed over the various trays, mixes with the hot vapour from below and rises to the top. During this process, the alcohol gradually separates from the liquid and the result is white Rum with approx. 76% alcohol by volume.

The Neisson Rum distillery only uses sugar cane harvested from its own 45-hectare sugar cane fields. The terroir is characterised by the sandy pumice stone of the volcano Montagne Pelée. In addition to sugar cane, which is harvested between February and June, Neisson also grows mangoes. The harvest is usually carried out using combine harvesters, which can produce around 30 tonnes of sugar cane per hour, already cut into pieces, and only when the weather is nice and hot, as this is when the sugar content is at its highest. By way of comparison, a person would only be able to produce around one tonne in seven hours. Manual harvesting is therefore only carried out in places that are difficult to access, such as mountain slopes. According to the AOC guidelines, the sugar cane must be processed on the same day.

Neisson does not use any pesticides. If, as at this distillery, you see many birds flying over the sugar cane plantations in search of insects, this is a good sign that no spraying is used.

Before the sugar cane, which is very hard on the outside, enters the press, it has to be chopped up. In the chopper, the 30-centimetre-long pieces are processed into a fibre mixture that is fed into the hydraulic press. The fresh sugar cane juice from the first pressing is of the best quality and can be used directly. The remaining fibres are very dry, but still contain crystalline sugar. The fibres are therefore mixed again with recycled sugar cane water and pressed a second time. The third pressing stage only produces a low yield. However, this is where the sugar cane water is obtained, which is used in the second stage. Finally, the extracted sugar cane juice is filtered to remove the last plant residues and obtain pure juice. This step is comparable to the purification process in the mash tun.

As the sugar content in the fresh sugar cane juice is still too high, it is reduced and mixed with water before fermentation continues.

The juice, reduced to a sugar content of 7 to 8 per cent, is first pre-cooled in cooling tanks. In stainless steel fermentation tanks, each with a capacity of 20,000 litres, the sugar cane juice undergoes a very long fermentation period of 72 to 120 hours. Similar to Whisky, this produces fruity flavours.

Neisson uses a dry yeast that comes from its own sugar cane and thus reinforces the link to the terroir. This special yeast is developed in collaboration with a French laboratory.

Neisson is one of the smallest Rum distilleries in Martinique and has three warehouses in which around 850 barrels can be stored.

After distillation, some of the Rums are reduced slightly by adding water and stored in large steel tanks for between 6 weeks and a year. The rest is put into barrels to mature and become brown Rum. Neisson mainly uses barrels made from American white oak and French oak. However, there are also a few barrels made from expensive Mizunara wood. Thanks to the tropical climate, maturation takes place more quickly in Martinique than in Europe. A 6-year-old Caribbean Rum from Martinique is therefore roughly equivalent to a 12 to 15-year-old Scotch Whisky.

The history of the Neisson distillery begins in 1931 with the purchase of the 20-hectare Thieubert estate in Le Carbet by Adrien Neisson. The merchant from Saint-Pierre began growing sugar cane there for Rum production. In order to learn more about the production process, Adrien sent his younger brother Jean Hildevert-Pamphile to study at the École Supérieure de Chimie in Paris. However, Jean returns to Le Carbet every year at harvest time. The Neisson distillery was officially opened in 1932.

In 1995, Jean handed over the business to his grandson Grégory Vernant, who is supported by his mother Claudine Neisson Vernant.

The Neisson distillery offers both free visits and guided tours with tastings.