The visit of the old distillery, now transformed into a rum interpretation centre, enables people to understand the manufacturing process. The building and the machines restored in 2005, on several levels connected by footbridges, show the entire industrial heritage.
A vast estate, resulting from the grouping together of several sugar cane properties, the lands Homère Clément acquired in 1887, are covered with sugar cane, the “green gold” of Martinique. The wind mill of the place was then obsolete, so harvests were delivered to the factory in Le François before the Habitation built its own distillery. Erected on the remains of the old distillery, the building was enlarged and modernised over the years, adapting its infrastructures to the development of agricultural rum and to the smooth running of business.
Aside from the technology brought by tools, the manufacturing process of Clément agricultural rum has hardly changed since its beginnings. Noble and traditional… After harvesting the sugar cane, the stalks are cut and the fibre taken out, then it’s the crushing step, driven by a steam engine. Poured into large tanks to brew, the juice collected then passes through a distillation column. Two models displayed in the window illustrate a fundamental characteristic of Martinique rum: distillation in columns is compulsory to aspire to the designation of “Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée” (AOC).
Today, the old Clément distillery unites the memory of rum with its industrial heritage and the testimonies of the former workers within a still active rum house.