Editor’s Note: Recently, Grégory Vernant, the owner of Neisson Rhum Distillery was in Singapore to conduct tasting sessions with partner and importer, La Maison du Whisky (LMDW). Thanks to an invitation, we sat down with Grégory in the LMDW office to have a chat. This interview has been edited for ease of reading.

 

 

"The factory was in a really bad shape, but thankfully I was naïve and crazy – when you’re 23 you think you could conquer the world. I didn’t [restore it] by myself. My mother was with me. There were lots of people who helped us a lot. Owners of the other rhum factories who were friends with my grandfather, they helped me a lot.

In my job, we have to be very modest. We always have to learn from other people. So that's what I did. I just opened my ears, open my eyes and tried to understand."

– Grégory on how he took over Neisson Distillery at just 23 years old, restored it and began turning it into the award-winning rhum maker with a cult following today.

Founded in 1932 in Martinique in the French West Indies, Neisson Distillery remains one of the very few family-owned rhum distilleries to this day. Today, it is also considered by many to be one of the very best.

Grégory Vernant is Neisson's 3rd-generation owner and master distiller, who began managing the distillery at the tender age of 23. Despite being one of the smallest rhum producers on the island, thanks to Grégory and his team's efforts, Neisson Distillery enjoys an outsized reputation for its quality rhums. They recently came in champion for two years in a row at the Caribbean Rum Awards.

Grégory is passionate about all things related to Martinique’s terroir. He is also a pioneer in 'bio' or organic farming of rhums. The distillery is known for its bold moves, as they proved the quality of their distillation by releasing the L'Esprit series of white rhums that can be enjoyed neat even at 70% ABV. And despite receiving offers to purchase from large multinational luxury companies – offers which would have given Grégory a comfortable retirement, he has stalwartly refused them, preferring to continue with his life's work.

In this interview, we'll learn more about how Neisson makes its rhums, and Grégory's interesting experience and perspectives on organic farming. We'll also get personal and hear about his early years in Martinique and his experience running a family-owned business.

Most exciting for Neisson's fans, Grégory has also mentioned an upcoming vat of rhum that he is very proud of, which would debut in this year's Whisky Live 2023. Be sure to look out for that special release!

Let’s get started!

 

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88B: When people think of Martinique, several things come to mind. It has a rich history, vibrant creole culture, and incredible natural beauty.

Can you describe your childhood and teenage years growing up in Martinique? What is one thing about Martinique culture that would surprise people from outside?

Grégory: My childhood was like every child’s, very quiet. I did all my study in a public school. My parents were doctors so I had a very quiet childhood and Martinique is a little paradise during my childhood so it was a very quiet place. I grew up with a love of the sea, I did a lot of sailing, fishing… So my childhood – I can remember a lot of friendship. I still have the same friends since I was five years old. Same group.

What was very interesting when I came to your country [Singapore], is that I saw a lot of culture. It’s the same in my island. It’s a small island but we have a lot of different culture, and a lot of tolerance between them. Chinese people, Indian people, Creole - my grandfather was a black guy. He was the last black guy who had a rhum factory. His wife was white Russian Jewish woman. I grew up in a melange of culture. Maybe you can feel it in my products.

Martinique culture is a lot about music, food and literature. I had a chance to stay back until I was done with my baccalaureate at 19 years old, and after I went to Paris for 5 years to study, and I came back after.

 

“In a way he is still present with us. We didn't invent anything, we are just following the steps he has laid out for the factory.”

–Grégory, on the timeless work of his grandfather who founded Neisson Distillery

 

88B: You are very respected today for the reputation and quality of Neisson’s rhums. But your grandfather, Jean Neisson, is also an important figure because he was a passionate rhum maker who started the distillery, he made many important decisions like installing your famous Savalle copper column still and iconic square “Z'épol Karé” bottle.

Are there any memorable experiences you had at the distillery with your grandfather? What went through your mind when you saw your grandfather working, and how did you honestly feel about the work?

Grégory: I think that my grandfather was one of the first who began using a mathematical approach. He was the first black person who graduated from National Chemical Engineering Institute in Paris and when he came back, he came back with another way of thinking about fermentation, about distillation. These days, people want to put a word on everything that they do, labels like “Organic”. I think my grandfather was advanced for his periods, but he may not have been understood by his peers.

In a way he is still present with us. We didn't invent anything, we are just following the steps he has laid out for the factory.

 

88B: Speaking of the distillation – your rhums are made using the same Savalle column still installed by your grandfather in 1938. I understand that the Savalle still has been modified and fine-tuned by your grandfather.

Do you still maintain the same settings on the Savalle still by your grandfather?

 

 

Grégory: It’s a good question. But don't forget that it depends on the degrees (ABV) of your wine. And so you can only have the same regulation on the column [to achieve the same intended ABV].

I think my grandfather did really interesting work in fermentation. For me, fermentation of sugarcane is 90% of your product’s quality. You could have the best column still in the world, you can’t do a good rhum with a shit fermentation. It's impossible.

 

"Distillers in the past don’t have the same tools [compared to distillers today]… Today we have much more consistency, but it doesn't mean that the rhum is better."

 

88B: What sort of interesting work in fermentation was your grandfather involved in?

Grégory: In the 80s’, we didn’t have the same technologies as we do today. Today I can easily control the temperature. You couldn’t do so at that time. So I remember him pushing a very big fan around the fermentation tank to try to control the temperature. He understood these important things, but we didn’t have the same tools.

 

88B: So he understood that you need the right temperature conditions to let the right bacteria grow?

Grégory: When you do a long fermentation, you have to control it, because you can have some unwanted bacteria. So, if you cooled down, you can control the bacterial growth better. So sometimes I think the difference between today and the past: you don't have bad rhums today. Distillers in the past don’t have the same tools. These days, you could have fantastic rhums and some rhums that are just so-so. Another difference between my grandfather’s period and today is that today we have much more consistency. But it doesn't mean that the rhum is better.

 

 

88B: What’s one thing you remember learning from your grandfather?

Grégory: My grandfather always told me that my factory has to be very clean, because the rhum takes all the odours from around the factory. So if something smells bad, your rhum smell bad too. So it's something we have to take care of.

 

88B: Is there anything that you did differently from your grandfather?

Grégory: The difference is that now I have access to some very brilliant ways of doing things. A drone for you may seem like nothing in the agriculture industry, but for us, it's a revolution. Imagine you are working in several hectares of sugarcane, and the height of your sugar cane is 1.75 m. So a guy would have to walk 6 kilometres for every hectare. Today, with a drone, within 5 minutes, I know everything.

So, I just have better materials but I don't do anything very differently from him.

 

 

88B: How does this drone that you speak of work?

Grégory: I'm in my car I could use the camera on the drone to see if I have grass in a certain place on the field. I don't have to walk and it saves me a lot of time! It's very interesting. Now you have certain cameras with spectrometers, you get a map with colorations and you’ll know if you need to add fertiliser, or Phosphorus. It's changed a lot of things for us.

 

88B: That actually sounds incredibly high tech.

Grégory: Lots of people think agricultural work is like this *Grégory gestures as if he is hand ploughing soil*, no it’s not like that.

 

"Sometimes all the stars align and you see the sugarcane arriving in the morning and you smell it, and you would just know 'Wow, okay, today would be a good day!' "

– Grégory, on how it feels to harvest a good batch of sugarcane for his rhums.

 

 

88B: How did you feel when you first took over the distillery and began operating it in 1995? I remember that you were only 23 years old.

Grégory: I was really naïve and crazy. *Laughs* When you’re 23 you think you could conquer the world. You don’t feel the importance of the job and you’re a little crazy – you want to become everything.

Thankfully I was young [when I inherited the business] – if I was 50 years old… And the factory was in a really bad shape, so I didn’t do it by myself. My mother was with me. It was a beautiful piece of family history. There were lots of people who knew me since I was a kid, since I was baby. So they helped us a lot. A lot of the owners of the other rhum factories who knew me when I was very small and who was friends with my grandfather, they helped me a lot.

In your job, and in my job, we have to be very modest. We always have to learn from other people. So that's what I did. I just opened my ears, open my eyes and tried to understand.

88B: Did you feel like you have a goal in mind when you first started taking over the distillery? What did you set out to achieve?  

Grégory: I was frightened. My first goal was to continue the factory and [thankfully] I had a fantastic distiller who was still with me, who helped me finished my foundational learning, we try to finish it.

After our first harvest in '97, we begin to acquire medals from competitions. And for us it was really impressive. We didn't imagine we could live to do this, and the personnel were very proud to know that we do not intend to sell the factory, that we are here for a long time.

So today, we are around 40 people and a potential successor works with me – I have a third generation. It's like a family business for everybody.

 

88B: You’re running a family-owned business. Do you have any interesting interactions? Are you not able to stop talking about rhums at family gatherings?

Grégory: With my mother we talk a lot about business it's normal. With my children, they ask a lot of question about my business, even when I'm here [in Singapore] while my son is studying in Canada he would ask me how’s the business and what we would do next. But with my wife, when we arrive at home, we’d say “Okay now we won’t talk about business.”

 

 

"In my opinion, the sugarcane variety is not the most important [in affecting flavour]… Don't forget that in Burgundy, you have the best wine in the world, and the worst. There’s mainly only one grape, it's the pinot."

–Grégory explaining why terroir and soil quality are more important to him than sugarcane variety in affecting the flavour of his rhums.

 

88B: Could you take us through your daily routine as an owner and Master Distiller at Neisson?

Grégory: It depends on the season. When it's for harvest right now, 15 years ago I used to wake up at 4 am now it's finished. I wake up at 6 am now and I try to be at work at half past 6 or 7. I live very close from my factory.

Unfortunately today we spend too much time with paperwork. I don't spend enough time in my fields and in my factory. Now I have my distiller and chief of the factory, and now he’s as good as me so I trust in him. It’s very comfortable for me. I'm here and I know everything is running good.

What’s important in a family business is not to think that you are indispensable – that nothing can run without you. It’s one of my goal that is to know how to transmit them to [the next generation]. In Martinique, in my culture, a lot of knowledge is not written, but only spoken, because our culture is very hands-on. We only had around 150 years since we abolished slavery. So, when I came along, I was very impressed because I knew had a lot of knowledge, but they were dying with their knowledge before they could transmit it. And when I came along, something I wanted to do is to write and document everything, and transfer our legacy.

We have a new girl who works with us now. She's 30 years old. She's very young. She's fantastic in her knowledge about agriculture. So that's what I'm looking for in the new generation.

 

88B: Is she part of the family?

Grégory: She came from the same village, and her grandfather used to run a rhum factory. Two years ago I contacted her and proposed that she join my team. I wanted new people, fresh blood, as you say. And it's interesting to work with young people because they challenge you. It's challenging, but it's really interesting.

Now, she has all the responsibilities of both the organic and non-organic plantations of Neisson. She looked like so baby, but she's not a baby. She's very smart at managing the guys working in the plantation. Which in which is not easy, because our culture is very macho. So when you're a girl, when you're young, when you're not very old, it's complicated. But she has a very strong character.

So, my routine is dependent on the year. During the rhum campaign, I always try to do a minimum of two, three hours of distillation because I like to stay in touch with that and spend some time in my factory.

Going to the bottling and testing with Alex, always, though he is now better than me. And I try to deal with all my people and talk with them, see if everything is going great. We also have a little shop. But I spend too much time in my office with the papers and things like this, unfortunately.

 

 

88B: *Laughs* You have too many orders coming in and you don’t have enough rhum to meet the demand.

We’ve talked about agricultural work. One practice that many single estate rhum makers, including Neisson, that really fascinates myself and many spirits lovers, is that you don’t buy sugar cane. You grow your own sugar cane, harvest them from separate fields, and you separately ferment them in batches, right?

Grégory: Yes, it's like, you know, in Champagne, what we call the “reserve wine.” We always try to keep the production from last year to blend with the new year, which is important for me to have a regularity of production. We try to respect our terroir. And as I told you, I'm independent about 90- 92% and I buy only 8-10% of outsiders’ sugarcane. Why? Because when you depend on farmers, even if they are providing you bad sugar cane, you have to take it because you don't have a choice. I want to have the choice. If my sugar cane is not good, I only can blame me, or my team. I don’t depend on someone else.

 

88B: This sound like a lot of work!

Grégory: Yes, but you earlier asked me what are the most enjoyable parts of my job.

I'm lucky because I touch a lot of things. I'm a farmer, I make chemicals, I create a local business with crushed sugar cane. I also have commercial work to do, so you never have time to be bored.

And now I'm very lucky to be sitting here and talking to you [in La Maison’s office in Singapore]. For me to be here, it feels like a luxury. In the past if I travelled 40 hours away from the island, I’ll say, okay, that’s good. But 25 years ago I wouldn’t have imagined that I would be in Singapore to sell rhum.

I'm still excited when I was in a mall two hours ago, and I was taking pictures with my rhum to send to everybody. You can imagine for us how special this is.

 

 

88B: On the topic of being a farmer, what are the qualities that identify a good harvest? And how often do you get good harvests?

Grégory: It depends, first of all on what we call “Brix”. Brix refers to the concentration of sugar that you will have in your sugarcane.

Just two weeks ago, I made a distillation that gave me a feeling I haven’t felt since 2000. And I said to myself, “that’s why I work here.” Sometimes all the stars align and you see the sugarcane arriving in the morning and you smell it, and you would just know “Wow, okay, today would be a good day!”

The harvest for this year [2023] will be exceptional because no rain for 6 months. The sugarcane is at a maximum of what it can do.

 

88B: So a higher level of sugar would be a better sugarcane?

Grégory: Yes, and the purity of the sugar cane. The difference between the juice and the solid spot – if it is more than 80% you’d know that it would be a good time.

One of my favourite moments is when you just arrived in the morning, and you smell the fermentation. And when it smells hauteur, you’d say “Okay, it’s good.” [Good harvests] have been happening a lot more often these few years. It’s a fantastic moment.

So when I’m travelling, I’d tell my guys that if there isn’t any more sugarcane left before I return, please stop the factory. I want to do the last distillation because it's a very rare moment. We have to embrace these moments. That's why I work.

 

"I don’t want to be black and white about this. It’s not organic or non-organic. If my crops have a disease, and require certain chemicals, I will give it to them. It’s like when you have a headache, if you need to take an Advil, you will take an Advil. So, I prefer talking about reasonable agriculture."

–Grégory on his nuanced approach to organic farming.

 

88B: I understand that you have 8 sugarcane varieties?

Grégory: We have 8 non-organic and 3 organic. Why so many varieties? It’s simply because in case of a disease, we don't want to lose our production. So we always want to have different varieties.

 

88B: And the sugarcane variety doesn’t really affect flavour?

Grégory: In my opinion, the sugarcane variety is not the most important. The most important is your soil, your terroir. It’s for a sugar cane to adapt to your terroir. The media always looks for new things that people say, like “Okay, I’m using a new variety,” or “I have a red one, a blue one, a white one or pink one.”  Sure, but I would ask where is it growing? How is it growing?  

Don't forget that in Burgundy, you have the best wine in the world, and the worst. There’s mainly only one grape, it's the pinot. I'm not too focused on the varieties. Even in within a small parcel of land in Burgundy, depending on where grapes is, you can have either fantastic wine, or so-so wines.

 

 

88B: You first began shifting towards organic farming in 2013, and also first to make organic rhum agricoles. It’s been about 10 years. How’s your experience doing organic farming?

Grégory: You earlier asked about my grandfather and I’m just recalling some more things about him. In the course of working at Neisson, I remembered that my grandfather used to grow certain beneficial plants for sugarcane plantations – we call them “service plants”, such as arachis pintoi. This means that he was planning to use these plants to [naturally] fix nutrients in the soil. Now when I study this, I realised that he was on to organic agriculture practices.

In one of our islands that grows lots of bananas, farmers use a lot of pesticides. Some of them contaminate the soil for about 100 years. Therefore, I wanted to have a different approach and try not to use these products.

But I don’t want to be black and white about this. It’s not organic or non-organic. If my crops have a disease, and require certain chemicals, I will give it to them. It’s like when you have a headache, if you need to take an Advil, you will take an Advil. So, I prefer talking about reasonable agriculture.

 

88B: How much investment of time does organic farming require?

Grégory: 600 hours instead of 40 hours to grow each batch.

Sugarcane culture is about 12 months. But when your quantity decreases per hectare, it means that weeds have been growing too fast, or that rats are eating your sugarcane in that area during harvest season. Because there is no more water in the river, the rats eat your sugarcane. And if you don’t control this, you can lose about 30% of your production.

 

"My grandfather used to experiment fermenting with only sugarcane and juice. But we found that you would either have a fantastic product, or shit. You are not sure of the result, it’s too risky."

–Grégory, on his doubtfulness about fermentation with purely wild yeast.

 

88B: How do you control the rats? Do you have cats?

Grégory: Some have cats. I have a special concoction made with coconuts – because rats love coconut – and mixed with ground avocado seed which contains natural toxins. It causes constipation for the rats when they eat it, and they explode.

It’s not very organic, but it works well!

 

88B: I’ll be sure not to eat coconut with avocado seed!

I understand that you have been using your own yeast, and you cultivate your own yeast.

Grégory: First thing we did, we took the DNA of all of our lands. It was a laboratory in Bordeaux that’s doing this for us, and the extraction of different yeast was interesting. We tried around six to eight yeasts, and we selected two which are more representative of our terroir.

All these yeasts are natural yeast which we extract from our lands. And when we don't use these types of yeasts, we use natural yeasts like bread yeast. Because now, the new yeast industry is focused on yeasts that give you a lot of alcohol, and I don't like these things. It's a standardised flavour.

 

88B: I heard that some other distilleries rely on wild yeast…

Grégory: No, that’s just what they say for marketing. My grandfather used to experiment fermenting with only sugarcane and juice. But we found that you would either have a fantastic product, or shit. You are not sure of the result, it’s too risky.

 

“I was recently speaking to a former 3-star Michelin French chef who is currently living in Singapore. We talked about pairing rhums with Singapore food. I think it’ll be very interesting, because Singapore food is similar to our food.”

–Grégory, on how Singapore food is very similar to Martinique food in richness, and would pair well with rhums

 

88B: It has been about 20 years since you released the iconic line of white rhums, L'Esprit to celebrate your 70^th anniversary in 2002. This has a very high alcohol strength at 70%, but is aromatic, fruity and also smoother than many high proof spirits.

Do you recall the inspiration or thought process that made you decide to bottle the ambitious L'Esprit?

 

 

Grégory: This was a joke between me and my mother.

You must understand that for us [in Martinique], spirits are not just a product to be marketed. We had a lot of quimboiseurs (local folk healers) very knowledgeable about local plants and herbs, and there is a lot of history of them using alcoholic spirits to cure diseases. Even for cockfighting – we’d rub fighting roosters with alcohol so they would have more power. There is a great deal of history with spirits in Martinique.

The high ABV of 70% was selected because we wanted to show that we could make a high proof alcohol that does not burn. It was interesting for us to show that we can do a good product at 70%.

 

88B: Were there any funny reactions of people when you introduced a 70% ABV product?

Grégory: The funniest story was that we threw a big fiesta that year and invited a lot of old friends who love drinking and having fun. However, this time we gave them a 70% ABV rhum. They each took 3 drinks at 70.

At the end of the party, nobody was in a condition to drive themselves home. I had to call a bus to send everyone home *Laughs*. They had to come back the next morning to take their cars back.

 

88B: For aged rhums, I understand that you use American or French oak, ex-bourbon barrels, and occasionally ex-Cognac casks. Are there any other casks you’d try like rhum?

Grégory: Yes, now we have almost 40% new barrels with our own heat seen in some of our Profil series bottlings. We want to have in the next year 80% of rhum barrels. But I like to have a mix, so I would still be keeping Bourbon and Cognac. The most important thing we have is our Mizunara cask, which we would have more this year.

I love the results, the vanilla, sweet fruits. It’s very refined and subtle – like Japan.

We currently only work with two cooperages. So we know we have an exclusivity of barrel heats with them. We are a very small distillery, so we pay great attention to what barrels we’re buying. Cognac is first choice, and I love Bourbon too – we would only buy first-fill Bourbon barrels. And sometimes new American oak barrels.

 

88B: Several years ago, you released the Neisson Profil series that explores the effect of new oak barrels and different oak toasting levels, on maturation.

What was your experience with this project?

 

Grégory: Some results were awful. In terms of unusual results, we tried an ex-tequila cask. It wasn’t a finish – I’m against doing finishings – but that rhum was strange and unusual. It’s not my taste to be honest.

There are two kinds of barrels. You have barrels for ageing, and barrels for keeping spirits. After different ages, what I'm looking for in my old rhums is a balance between the woodiness and the fruits. I don’t like the product when it's too woody. When it's too woody, you just have to take out liquid from the ageing barrel and put it into a neutral barrel that is simply for keeping spirits, not aging them.

 

88B: You celebrated Neisson’s 90^th Anniversary last December.

Grégory: Yes. It was the most beautiful party that we’ve ever done. The weather was fantastic. I can't wait for the 100^th Anniversary – we are still preparing the products. You can look forward to a surprise!

 

 

88B: Looking forward to that!

Are there any memorable moments during this journey in being a distiller that you could share with us?

Grégory: What I like in my factory is that there is a mix of people of different social groups, colours. People don't care, we are just in this to have a good time, and I'm very proud of this.

You know, it was a long period with COVID-19 and everything was closed, and it was the first time we made a very big party in Martinique. Everybody was present and I have people from all over the world who came. I have a friend who came from the United States, from Italy, from France. We are very proud of this because we are nothing, we are a very small island. And when you can see all these guests you say “Okay, we’ve done our job right.”

 

 

88B: I’m sure your grandfather and his partner would be very proud of Neisson’s success.

Grégory: *Laughs* I don’t know!

I still have some rhum from him, and I’m very jealous about his white rhums. I sometimes go “wow” when I drink them.

 

88B: Any reason that today we can’t make the same kind of rhums as your grandfather did back then?

Grégory: I don’t know. I can’t answer you. Sometimes I have a rhum that isn’t far off, and maybe the same level of quality. But I can’t say I’ve made a better product.

 

88B: If you could let him try one of your bottles today, which would you let him try?

Grégory: L’Esprit. And the next vat of rhum that I will be doing for this year. We’ve spent a lot of time working on it and we have a lot of hope in this new release. It’ll be presented during Whisky Live!

We’re never satisfied about our work, it’s important. I think we can improve the sweetness of our white rhum, and also improve the fruitiness of our older rhums – work on the balance. Maybe the generation after will be the one to do it. That’s my hope.

 

88B: The next generation of distillers – would it be your children?

Grégory: I don’t know. You don’t run a family business by obligation. It can't work. You have to embrace it. There’s my son Sacha. Vincent also just came this year to help on social media. So we will see… as I told you, as a farmer, you don't have to be in a hurry. You have to be patient to be a farmer. So, I'm waiting. [Grégory says this as he smiles hopefully.]

 

88B: Are there any other areas that you’re keen on exploring – I remember earlier you mentioned using robotics in farming.

Grégory: Yes, but we are too small. You know, when we talk with big companies, we don't interest them because we don't have enough money to put up for research. Yes, there are a lot of tools that I want to explore that can multiply the work of a human.

Don't forget that for sugarcane in a very big country, it’s usually a country where you pay very little money for human labour. So in these countries, it's cheaper to pay people to harvest by hand rather than by a machine. So, things have to change. In my island when I pay a guy to cut a sugar cane, it’s 38 euros for one tonne. In Santo Domingo, one hour by plane only costs you one dollar. So you can compare. But there’s a French phrase that goes “Comparison is not reasonable.”

 

88B: When you reflect on what Neisson Distillery has contributed to rhums, what do you want to be remembered for?

Grégory: I don't think I contributed much to the rhum world. We were just faithfully doing our jobs. We often say in French “Small is beautiful,” so, we are lucky to be small. The difference is that we would never change our way of thinking. I think people like that we remain the same every year. We don't do things out of fashion. I don't want to put sugar, I don't want to put coloration, I don’t want spicy products.

 

88B: Moving on to food pairings – what famous Martinique dishes do you have with rhums and cocktails with your family?

Grégory: This is my best part! We like Ti’Punch, Long Drink, Mai Tai sometimes. Daiquiri with a good barbecue on Sundays, it’s good. And some wine too!

 

88B: What kinds of Martinique dishes would you have?

Grégory: We have a lot of fish dishes, such as fish blaff (fish poached in pepper and spices). And chicken – we are crazy over chicken. But more fish – we have swordfish, balaou [saury] – we eat it like a tempura. Accra de morue (codfish fritters). Pork too.

 

 

What is interesting about our food is that it has a lot of culture. Our food is very rich. We have mix of Indian, African, European. One day I hope that we will have a restaurant in the factory for our visitors. I’d like to reproduce this.  

I was recently speaking to a former 3-star Michelin French chef who is currently living in Singapore. We talked about pairing rhums with Singapore food. I think it’ll be very interesting, because Singapore food is similar to our food.

 

88B: What is the easiest rhum cocktail that we can make at home?

Grégory: Okay you take just two spoons of brown sugar, just a little lime, rhum and just one ice. And you’re done – that’s a Ti’Punch.

Don’t forget that a lot of alcohols require adding a lot of lemon and flavour because your alcohol is not flavourful itself. With rhum, you don’t need to put too much things or you’ll kill the taste of the rhum. You just need the taste of rhum and lemon which makes this interesting.

  

88B: Finally, could you share with us some travel itinerary recommendations for Martinique?

 

 

Grégory: The island is really interesting due to a difference of aging – you have a tropical forest in the North – really big tropical forest. And in the South, you have a little desert. Within one hour by car, the difference of scenery is really interesting. For the rhum factories, I recommend for people to visit all of them because you will understand the importance of the microclimates between the rhum factories.

We have a volcano [Mount Pelée] that erupted in 1902 and 30,000 people were killed in Saint-Pierre, the capital. That’s why it’s no longer the capital anymore. The volcano is around 1400 metres tall. In the South the topology is flatter, except a beautiful beach with a little mountain.

We have just two climates – the rainy periods, and the sunny periods. Now is harvest season and the hottest – it’s around 28 to 35 degrees with no rain for three or four months.

We sometimes don't understand how precious our climate and beaches are. We are like fools. We have to because we will otherwise have problems with rising sea levels. It’s changed for the better with the new generation. My son, Sacha, for instance, would monitor my use of tap water.

 

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88B: Thanks once again, Grégory, for doing this interview with us! This was an utterly fascinating and rare look into how Neisson makes rhum agricole, organic farming, Neisson’s upcoming releases and the unique geography and vibrant culture of Martinque. It has honestly sparked my desire to visit the French Antilles someday!

 

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If you’re interested, Neisson’s Rhums are available from their official distributor La Maison du Whisky: LMDW Singapore | LMDW International

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Cheers!

@CharsiuCharlie