since 1842

Martinique French West Indies

Heading east from the congestion of Fort de France toward Gondleau, and past Chateauboeuf, takes you through the area known as La Favorite. The easiest way to get there from Fort de France is to follow a bus to Gondleau. When you cross the river, you will see the distillery smokestack. A sign on the main road points the way to La Favorite.

The distillery is housed in a brick building dating from 1842 when this was a sugar factory. From the second floor of the still house, above the cane mill, you can see most of the process equipment in this large rhum factory. Directly in front of you, a large, steam-powered cylinder is the muscle of the cane mill. Smaller steam engines, to your right, power conveyor belts to move the bagasse to the boilers, while other steam-powered pumps move the fermented juice to the distillation columns.

Because the amount of cane being fed between the heavy rollers varies, the rollers must be able to move up and down to prevent damage to the mill. To apply the pressure necessary to crush the cane, in addition to the weight of the rollers, hydraulic cylinders are fitted to the bearing on both ends of the rollers. Steel hydraulic lines, on top of the mill, connect these cylinders to hand-powered pumps located below the observation platform. To prevent damage to the mill, the force on the rollers is balanced by raising the weights. In most cane mills, the pressure on the rollers is maintained by an electrically-driven hydraulic pump.

Like most of the other distilleries in Martinique, fermentation is completed in less than forty-eight hours. Then, the fermented wine, or vin, is fed to the distillation columns. The distillery has expanded over the years, and now has two distillation columns — one is all copper and the other is stainless steel and copper. The condensers for both columns are copper, as well as most of the process piping. Two boilers produce enough steam to power the expanded operation.

The raw rhum is distilled to 70% alcohol, then allowed to rest for two months in large oak casks, or foudres de chêne. The rhum paille is allowed to mellow here another year. What will become rhum vieux is put in oak barrels to age in the warehouse.

One of the problems facing all of the distilleries is the scarcity of coopers, or skilled labor to assemble and maintain the barrels. Since the cooper at this distillery retired, it has been difficult to maintain enough barrels to age the volume of rhum that must keep on hand in order to meet the demand and remain profitable.

After watching several barrels being assembled and trying this myself, I have come to appreciate how difficult this task can be. In the past, each stave was made with hand tools, much like building a wooden ship. Today, the staves are made by machine and are somewhat interchangeable, bit it still takes considerable skill to assemble a barrel that won’t leak for five years or more.

The La Favorite distillery bottles several products under three different labels. La Favorite Rhum Blanc is bottled at 50º and 55º. La Favorite Rhum Vieux is aged four years at the distillery. The premium rhum is the 33-year-old, Cuveè spèciale de la Flibuste, and like La Favorite Rhum Vieux, is bottled at 40°.

La Favorite also bottles other labels. As the need to replace expensive equipment arises, sometimes it is more economical to contract another distillery for production than to take on new debt. Distilleries, which at one time were competing for the market, are now cooperating for survival.



There are 6 products in our database distilled by La Favorite.
Beleza de Minas - Gold
La Favorite 8 Ans
La Favorite Ambré
La Favorite Cuveé Spéciale de la Flibuste
La Favorite Rhum Blanc
La Favorite Rhum Vieux

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Last updated August 5, 2010