St James Ephémère n°7 2007 70cl 54.3°

In the middle of the 18th century, Martinique had a very active sugar production. In the west of the island, the Fort Saint-Pierre hospital was managed by the Brothers of Charity, Father Lefébure had a sugar factory built to meet the needs of the sick, therefore a “vinegar factory” was born next to distil molasses residue. This is the beginning of Martinican agricultural rum. The Saint James distillery was founded in 1765, at the foot of the Pelée mountain, on the island of Martinique.

Initially named Trou-Vaillant from the name of the locality where the distillery is located, its difficulty of pronunciation for the Anglo-Saxons forced the Brothers to rename it Saint-James. This brand name was registered by Paulin Lambert when he bought the distillery in 1882, moreover he favored bottling in a revolutionary format, in glass with a square base, in order to make profitable the space in the holds of boats and avoid the breakage.

Today the distillery is celebrating its 250th anniversary, it now belongs to La Martiniquaise group after having passed into the hands of the Cointreau group which decided to move the site to Sainte-Marie on the Atlantic side of the island. It would produce around 3 million litres of rums per year, making this distillery the most important producer of agricultural rum on the island.