REFINED VICES

Count Silvio wrote:Dupré Barbancourt, who founded the company in 1862, came to Haiti from Charente, which is located in the Cognac region of France. Using double distillation methods, originally used in the production of cognac in France, he began distilling rum after perfecting his special recipe. Barbancourt was married to Nathalie Gardère, who after Barbancourt’s death took control of the business. Later, on her deathbed, Nathalie Gardère left the company to her nephew Paul Gardère, as she never had children with Dupré Barbancourt. To this day the rum business remains in the Gardére family.


Rhum Barbancourt Réserve Spéciale is an agricultural rum made from freshly pressed sugar cane juice that is distilled to 90% alcohol. The distilled product is cut with water before it is put to rest in large white Limousin oak vats. The finished product is an 8 year old rum, 43% alcohol per volume.

Rhum Barbancourt is the most internationally decorated rum and the people at Barbancourt are proud to show it as the label is decorated with multiple medals won from various competitions. The label has a total of 22 medals - two medals under and ten medals to the left and right of the blue star that is supposedly a symbol of a Voodoo god (waiting confirmation from Barbancourt). You can view all the awards and medals at the Barbancourt website.

Read the full review on the frontpage!

What do the gentlemen and ladies think of this rum?

Spot on Count! I am aware there is some controversy about this rum being " Agricole" or not.

I find your take on this rum agreeable.

Bye the way ole chap,,,Where the hell is the spell check on the board?

Thanks for the comments. Can you elaborate why this isn't an Agricole according to some people?

As for the spell check, I'm not aware that there is such a module for phpBB 3 so spell checking will have to be up to the gentleman for the time being.

Count Silvio wrote:Thanks for the comments. Can you elaborate why this isn't an Agricole according to some people?

As for the spell check, I'm not aware that there is such a module for phpBB 3 so spell checking will have to be up to the gentleman for the time being.

Here is a quote from Ed Hamilton over at the Ministry of Rum forum in a thread titled "Rum from sugar cane syrup".

Barbancourt, I've been told, uses some sugar cane syrup during certain times of year, when it's available.

This might exclude at least some of their production from being defined as "Agricole", would it not?

Rum Runner wrote:This might exclude at least some of their production from being defined as "Agricole", would it not?

Well I suppose it would then and now I can understand the controversy. A little hard to decide if it is Agricole or not when and if they use both juice and syrup.

Can't blame them though as you can only make sugar cane juice during that one season. To keep up with the demand they'd have to deploy some other tactics like using syrup. It would be interesting to compare a juice and a syrup version from Barbancourt, if this quote from Hamilton is indeed a fact.

Count Silvio wrote:

Rum Runner wrote:This might exclude at least some of their production from being defined as "Agricole", would it not?

Well I suppose it would then and now I can understand the controversy. A little hard to decide if it is Agricole or not when and if they use both juice and syrup.

Can't blame them though as you can only make sugar cane juice during that one season. To keep up with the demand they'd have to deploy some other tactics like using syrup. It would be interesting to compare a juice and a syrup version from Barbancourt, if this quote from Hamilton is indeed a fact.

They claim the word agricole only on their website...I do not see a reference to it on their labels. One presumes they would be proud to take the nomenclature to the label if it were so.

It's my belief that Hamilton's information was happened to upon a visit to the facility some years ago.

I love the stuff..The fact that they can produce anything in that hellhole that tastes that good is a triumph...Probably on the backs of what most of us might consider slave labor.

Rum Runner wrote: They claim the word agricole only on their website...I do not see a reference to it on their labels. One presumes they would be proud to take the nomenclature to the label if it were so.

I don't see a mention in my bottle either, perhaps because they don't use just sugar cane juice then. However, in the back of the label they claim "Barbancourt rum is made exclusively from fresh pressed sugar cane juice." Bit of contradiction there again.

As has been noted Barbancourt's labels cite "made from fresh cane juice". Their website details meticulous and time consuming making of agricultural rum in the classic French manner. The controversy cited is limited to one website, based on extremely dated alleged information (prior to 1997). I've had the great pleasure of communicating with respected researcher/writers Ian Williams and Charles Columbe, as well as with Barbancourt - all of whom state that Barbancourt has always been considered an agricultural, cane juice rum from the inception of the company. Barbancourt told me they use "fresh cane juice", period.

I also learned there is some political background of some interest. Turns out that the French term "rhum agricole" may have first been used in a derogatory fashion in reference to "clairin" - an early Haitian moonshine made from cane juice. It is surely a delicious contradiction that much later the French converted the term to a positive, while their term for molasses based rum - rhum industriell - continued as a pejorative, as molasses based rums were/are considered inferior by them. The marketplace decided the opposite, as molasses based rums account for about 97% of sales.

There is no love lost between Haiti and France, especially after Haiti gained its independence and was severely impoverished at the hands of Napolean. It is no surprise that the once derogatory French term of rhum agricole does not appear on their bottles.

One final note: you may surprised to know that Saint James in Martinique - who makes AOC designated agricoles - does not have the capacity to use all their fresh cane juice, so some is slightly concentrated into a cane juice semi-syrup until needed, when it is diluted to its original concentration, fermented and distilled.

Interesting, eh?

Capn Jimbo wrote: I've had the great pleasure of communicating with respected researcher/writers Ian Williams and Charles Columbe, as well as with Barbancourt - all of whom state that Barbancourt has always been considered an agricultural, cane juice rum from the inception of the company. Barbancourt told me they use "fresh cane juice", period.

I guess it can't be any more official than the word of Barbancourt. We will just have to trust them, unless of course we send our spies to investigage .

Capn Jimbo wrote:One final note: you may surprised to know that Saint James in Martinique - who makes AOC designated agricoles - does not have the capacity to use all their fresh cane juice, so some is slightly concentrated into a cane juice semi-syrup until needed, when it is diluted to its original concentration, fermented and distilled.

Interesting, eh?

It is certainly interesting. Is this the only way to store the juice, by concentrating it? This brings a question in mind, after it has been concentrated and diluted again, can it be called "fresh juice" anymore?

Is this the only way to store the juice, by concentrating it? This brings a question in mind, after it has been concentrated and diluted again, can it be called "fresh juice" anymore?

To the former, the answer is yes. By drawing off a bit of water to form what still remains a pretty thin "semi-syrup", the cane juice will keep for a limited time (depending on storage temperature), say 30 days or so. At that time, the bit of water removed is easily replaced and the cane juice is then fermented and distilled. And I'd bet you my first born that Saint James is not alone in doing this.

I think the latter question grows out of the notion that rhum agricole must be made from "fresh cane juice". In my view, this is a misunderstanding that the 1996 AOC definition - which indeed states "from fresh cane juice" - defines what is and is not agricole. This is exactly backward, as the AOC rhums are a subset of the agricoles. Three points....

First, that these AOC regs fail to define just what "fresh" is. It makes nice marketing point but little else (after all who would want rum made from rotten cane juice, lol). Regardless, and second, these regs do not define "rhum agricole" (a term in common useage for 150 years), they only specify which agricoles from Martinique may carry the AOC label designation. Last, do remember that etymology of the term dates from about 1850 and that "rhum agricole" referred simply to rums made from "cane juice" rather than from "molasses" (so called "rhum industriell". There was no mention of "fresh" for either type historically, nor in common useage.

Historically, the only reason the cane juice was distilled quickly (fresh) was because otherwise it would go bad in the heat. The modern semi-syrup simply buys a little time in which to process your cane juice.

With these in mind, I would also offer this: Water is added and removed all through the process of rum making. Keep in mind that the cut and washed pieces of cane are then crushed at the mill. Water is added to facilitate crushing. Water is then removed before fermentation. Water may be added or removed before distillation, and also after distillation for aging. Then again after aging for bottling. The point:

The water content changes constantly. What doesn't change is the original raw material, either "cane juice" or "molasses", which are obviously of very different composition. A temporary and minor removal and replacement of a bit of water does not signficantly change the cane juice's composition; rather, it simply facilitates the distillation schedule.

Anyway, that's the best I can make of it...

Does Barbancourt taste like an agricole though?

I can't honestly see the agricole characteristics. Maybe may sample of agricoles is too small, and I have yet to taste the Barbancourt white, but I don't get where the stuff tastes 'agricole'. I see no similarity to cachaca. I see no similarity to Martinique rums.

I'm no expert but I can't detect anything that would make me group this rum together with St. James, Depaz, Neisson, etc.


I am not saying I don't like Barbancourt. I love the stuff. I just don't think it tastes anything like agricole. I've found agricole rums very distinctive. Barbancourt is distinctive, but in a different way.

You're right. Your sampling of agricoles is too small.

Think about it. Does Zacapa 23 taste like Wray & Nephews OP? Or Pusser's? How about Pyrat XO? Mount Gay Sugar Cane, a molasses rum, actually does taste like cane. And never forget that most of the "rhums by regulation" of Martinique are relatively young, made to stringent and strangling standards that don't allow the magnificent art displayed by the world class cane juice rums (agricoles to the French and faux French) made by the Barbancourt family.

The real question is "Why don't most agricoles taste like Barbancourt?". A few of the better ones do.

Remember: France and Martinique do not define cane juice rums any more than WIRSPA defines molasses rums.

Maybe I need to keep increasing my sampling of agricoles then. ..

The first time I tried an agricole (St. James amber, then the white) it was a very different rum experience. You could call them rough but I find them very enjoyable. The agricoles I have tried since then have shared this profile.

Incidentally Barbancourt was another very different type of experience, but I'd relate it to a separate group of rums. It tastes to me not unlike other French rums that have a 'rasiny', 'vanilla', vaguely 'culinary' type flavor. I can't think of brands here. I tasted a bunch in Cambodia (lots of french products there). Besides Barbancourt I remember one with a toucan (or some similar bird) on the label, and a couple of cheaper rums (maybe designed more to be cooking rums), but which from memory shared a common thread.


Anyway, I can see I am going to have to try barbancourt white. Trying to Haitian clarin would also be interesting if I can find some.

Aha, the Saint James. Good. You've tried the white and the Ambre. Try the Extra Old and especially the Hors D'Age and you will find even they taste much different than the Ambre and especially from the white. Or try the Clement VSOP. Different again.

Still the Martinique cane juice rums have more in common than some of the other fine cane juice rums, particularly as their distillations are all forced under the Frenc-specified AOC regs and methods- which do not allow much more than relatively minor tweaking. This is why I call them rums by regulation. Barbancourt (and other) cane juice rums - though using the same cane juice (agricole) raw material - is not so limited, and the art of their top-rated products is obvious.

But make no mistake: they all fall into the category of cane juice rums (called agricoles by the French only) and they are just as varied as molasses based products. The origin and meaning of this category is covered in great detail at my Rum Project Forum (not main site), under "French Style Rums". Link below.

I tried the Barbancourt 1 star the other day (think it's aged 2 years?).

Wow. . .

That stuff tastes like pure agricole.

OK, must be some differences with the Martinique stuff, but they clearly belong in the same general family.

I assume this similarity will be even more marked in the case of the white. Can't wait to try it.

Barbancourt is becoming one of my favorite rums. Great product.

OK. . .


I visited Barbancourt yesterday.

It seems like it falls more or less in the 'agricole' category. The plant was totally idle because no cane was available. They don't appear to be using molasses. They do admit diluting the fresh cane juice with cane syrup, but only during some of their producing months (November to July). July to November the plant sits idle.


I tried the white here in Haiti too. It is very 'agircole' tasting, albeit on the light side. I'm not sure if that lightness comes from the distillation (they seem to distill to a very high proof) or from the base materials (cane juice cut with sugar syrup).

Thanks for your reply Bunnyhugs.

How is Haiti coping up with the destruction caused by the hurricane? Also will we be seeing a distillery tour article? I really enjoyed reading your Brugal distillery article.