Antilles : art & culture > rhum : iles Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Martinique ...

Rum is more than just a drink, it is a culture in itself. Rum-tasting is a ritual that requires long initiation: to savour its divine flavour, to distinguish between its myriad of varieties and to delight in a particularly fine bottle you need to be taught with expertise. Connoisseurs of this drink are as dainty as specialists of cognac or armagnac, which is sound proof of the fact that there’s more to rum than that reddish alcohol on our banana flambee. It is the islands’ national drink without doubt, heaven itself for[...]

“You need to be strong in spirit to get drunk on a glass of water and resist a bottle of rum” was the opinion of Gustave Flaubert in his Carnets… Rum is more than just a drink; it is a culture in itself. Rum-tasting is a ritual that requires long initiation: to savour its divine flavour, to distinguish between its myriad of varieties and to delight in a particularly fine bottle you need to be taught with expertise. Connoisseurs of this drink are as dainty as specialists of cognac or armagnac, which is sound proof of the fact that there’s more to rum[...]

Rum is more than just a drink, it is a culture in itself. Rum-tasting is a ritual that requires long initiation: to savour its divine flavour, to distinguish between its myriad of varieties and to delight in a particularly fine bottle you need to be taught with expertise. Connoisseurs of this drink are as dainty as specialists of cognac or armagnac, which is sound proof of the fact that there’s more to rum than that reddish alcohol on our banana flambee. It is the islands’ national drink without doubt, heaven itself for users and hell for abusers. Two[...]

Ti-punch. White rum, cane sugar syrup (or sugar, honey, etc.), lime. The most well-known… How you taste them depends on the time of day: if it's your first rum of the day, it will be strong and called « take-off » or « pétépied ». If it rather modest and on the light side, it'll be a « ti-bête », « punch fillette » or « ti-feu ». If you're invited to drink a ti-punch, you might hear the following phrase when you finish the first one: « il ne faut pas rester sur un pied », which means that, so that you don't lose[...]