Rum Review: Père Labat 40 Rhum Agricole from Marie-Galante

Looking back at the rums we have tasted, we find we’ve explored only one rhum agricole, a rum distilled in the French Caribbean islands using freshly squeezed sugar cane juice rather than molasses. Rereading our 2017 review of Clément – Select Barrel Rhum Agricole, reveals our lack of knowledge about agricole and how much our palates have grown to appreciate the nuances of differing styles of rum/rhum. Père Labat 40 opens up a whole new appreciation for rhum agricoles.

Poisson Distillery produces Père Labat 40 on the island of Marie-Galante, a dependency island of Guadeloupe, a French territory in the Caribbean. The Poisson family founded a sugar refinery on the island in 1860, which was transformed into a distillery in 1916 after Edouard Rameau bought it. He named his rum Père Labat in memory of the French missionary who settled the island in the 17th century.

While most rums are made from molasses or sugar cane honey, rhum is made from sugar cane juice. Sugar cane is harvested at the peak of maturity, immediately pressed, and then fermented with organic yeast found on the leaf (or the sheath) that completely covers the sugar cane stalk. The fermentation gives the rhum an earthy, grassy, and herbaceous taste rather than the traditional sweet, vanilla, and spice notes of rum. The other difference is that while rum typically is 40% ABV, rhum often varies between 40-45% ABV, providing an extra kick. (Marie-Galante white rhums often run 50–59%.)

Père Labat offers a variety of rhums ranging from blanc, requiring no aging, to special editions aged more than ten years. Père Labat 40 is a blanc made using the traditional methods from the 17th century and distilled in a 12-plate copper column still. The label suggests using the rhum to make a Ti’ Punch, but first, we tried it neat.

Neat

The nose lives up to the earthy, grassy notes expected from an agricole. The sip warms the palate with a unique note that is not sweet, not earthy like the nose, and not spicy. It has a good mouth feel, which carries the rhum to a warm, inviting finish.

Ti’ Punch

(Ti is the Creole/French word for petite.)
¼ oz Simple Syrup (or 1 ½ tsp)
1 ½ oz Rhum
Wedge of Lime
Mix simple syrup and rhum. Squeeze lime and mix. Then add ice.

There is an initial hit of sweetness, which complements the earthiness of the rhum. While we smell the lime on the nose, it settles into the background on the palate, balancing the simple syrup and the rhum. The petite cocktail goes down so smoothly that we were immediately left wanting more.

Overall
We were pleasantly surprised by the taste and feel of Père Labat 40 when sipped neat. Though not an everyday sipper, it could certainly stand on its own. We will add the Ti’ Punch recipe to our repertoire of cocktails. Try playing around with the sugar component using Demerara simple syrup to give you more of a molasses note.

3.75 out of 5

Terry Boram has written for ALL AT SEA since 2012.