The Domaine l'Habitation du Simon is located between Le François and Le Vauclin in the heart of a sugar cane plantation. It is an 18th-century building that still lives to the rhythm of harvests and rum production.

A1710 rum is produced on site. You might think that 1710 is the year this rum was born, but that's not the case. It's the latest brand to arrive in Martinique, and its rum was only launched in 2016!

In 2006, Yves Assier de Pompignan embarked on an ambitious project: to create a new rum distillery imbued with the history and richness of the Caribbean terroir. With the help of a determined and passionate team, he took over the Habitation du Simon to set up his rum brand.

In 2010, the decision was made to launch the project, and work began on selecting the fine aged rums to be used in the blends. An aging cellar previously used for cognac production was introduced, and a laboratory was set up at the Habitation. The first selections of rums, then aged between 6 and 11 years, were put back into French oak barrels of 320 liters for further aging.

At the same time, with the aim of setting up an innovative, high-quality, traditional distillery, they opted for a Charentais still made entirely of copper, complete with a 7-plate column and temperature-controlled fermentation vats allowing for long fermentation periods in order to obtain rums with strong aromatic potential.

After several years of setting everything up and completing the administrative procedures, De Pompignan and his team obtained authorization to open their distillery for the production of agricultural rums, the last rum distillery founded in Martinique.

Work began on the rum distillery, which was set up in an old 18th-century purgerie (a type of distillery) in the heart of the estate. The house was also refurbished to accommodate visits and tastings.

The new A1710 distillery was inaugurated in 2016 at Habitation du Simon.

In 2023, a second still, almost identical to the first one installed in 2015, was introduced. It allows us to push even further in our quest for aromatic excellence and quality in A1710 rums. The cane wine will therefore continue its ritual of double distillation.

List of A1710 rums:

• White rums
• Aged rums
• Limited editions
• Organic rums
• Rums aged in wood

On May 8, 1902, the Depaz family disappeared during the eruption of Mount Pelée, which also destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre. The only member of the Depaz family to escape the tragedy was Victor Depaz, then a young student living in Bordeaux, where he was studying. Once he had completed his studies, Victor Depaz, now an orphan and penniless, returned to Saint-Pierre to the Habitation Périnelle, where he had been born in 1886.

On the symbolic date of May 8, 1917, 15 years after the eruption, Victor Depaz bought the 521 hectares of fallow land at Habitation Pécou from the d'Aurigny family and started up the distillery he had built to crush the cane he was planting on the slopes of Mount Pelée.

He began construction of “Château Depaz,” a replica of Habitation Périnelle, where he had spent his childhood. He moved there with his wife and eight children in 1923. He would have eleven children in total.

Depaz rum won its first medal at the Marseille exhibition in 1922, then again in 1927 and 1931.

The reputation for quality of Depaz rum grew year after year under the leadership of Victor's sons, first Henri Depaz, then, from 1986, his twin brother André.

In 1989, André Depaz joined forces with the Bordeaux-based family group Bardinet, a long-standing customer of the Depaz Distillery, and continued the work begun by Victor Depaz, first with Bardinet and later with the new owner of La Martiniquaise.

Trois Rivières is a distillery located in the commune of Sainte-Luce, in the district that shares its name, about 5 km from the town center. The estate spans approximately 600 hectares, including 120 hectares where sugarcane is cultivated in rotation with cattle farming. However, the distillery has not been active since 2003. The brand is now managed by the La Mauny distillery in Rivière-Pilote. A windmill is said to have once stood on the Trois Rivières site.

Trois Rivières white agricultural rum is available in 50°, 55°, and 62° proofs. These rums carry the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (A.O.C.) designation.

The Habitation Trois Rivières, also known as Habitation Grand Céron, was once the property of Nicolas Fouquet (1615–1680), Superintendent of Finances for the Kingdom and protégé of Cardinal Mazarin. Before his downfall and imprisonment by order of Louis XIV, Fouquet had built a sugar refinery on the site, along with an annexed distillery—remnants of which still exist today.
It was during the 19th century that the Céron estate was relocated to its current site.

Visitors can choose between a free self-guided tour and a paid guided tour that includes a tasting. There is also a boutique where guests can purchase branded items such as glassware sets, rum gift boxes, and other Trois Rivières merchandise.

Habitation Saint-Étienne, or H.S.E., is a distillery built to replace an old sugar mill, La Maugée, covering more than 400 hectares from Gros-Morne to Saint-Joseph.

In 1882, the distillery was bought by Amédée Aubéry, a young captain of industry who became one of the iconic figures of the Martinican economy. Towards the end of the 19th century, faced with the sugar crisis, it was converted into a distillery, like many sugar plantations of the time.

Amédée Aubéry expanded the factory and gave it a remarkable façade with 28 arched windows, ensuring optimal ventilation of the building. He modernized the entire facility to maximize rum production efficiency.

In 1909, the distillery was bought by the Simonnet family, who developed the business until its decline in the late 1980s. In 1994, Yves and José Hayot took over the operation, relaunched the Saint-Étienne brand, and undertook the restoration and enhancement of the architectural heritage of the property.

Today, although rum distillation no longer takes place (since 1988), it continues to produce rums, known as HSE rums. Its preserved architectural ensemble is one of the best examples of the housing system in Martinique, offering a glimpse into life in the 19th century. The master's house and the former slave huts, later used by paid workers, have survived for two centuries and are open to visitors.

The site is listed in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments (I.S.M.H.). During the tour, you can see how HSE rum is produced, including the barrel storage system and bottling process, before tasting the rums made on site. Numerous exhibitions are held there throughout the year.

The La Mauny distillery was founded in 1749. It takes its name from Count Ferdinand Poulain, the Count of Mauny, who settled in Martinique in the early 18th century. Originally, the La Mauny estate was dedicated to sugar production, but it successfully weathered the sugar crisis by shifting toward the production of agricultural rum around the mid-20th century.

The property was acquired by brothers Théodore and Georges Bellonnie. In the 1970s, Théodore Bellonnie partnered with the Bourdillon families to form the Rhums La Mauny company. The company was renamed Bellonnie Bourdillon et Successeurs (BBS), which also owns the Trois Rivières and Duquesne brands.

Since then, Trois Rivières and Duquesne rums have been produced at the La Mauny distillery. During the guided tour, you’ll discover how La Mauny’s various rums are made, from fresh cane juice to bottling. A tasting of different rums and punch varieties is also offered.

At the end of the tour, you can visit the shop to purchase rum or brand-related products from La Mauny, Trois Rivières, and Duquesne. You’ll also find punch made with La Mauny’s different rums.

To get there, head toward Rivière-Pilote via the N8. Signage will guide you to the distillery from there.

La Favorite distillery was born in 1842 between Fort-de-France and Lamentin under the name of "Distillery Jambette", named after the river that fed it.

Its name was changed in 1851 by its owner, Charles Henry, in reference to an anecdote. Indeed, Joséphine de Beauharnais would have offered a bottle of rum from Habitation Jambette to Napoleon at the beginning of the First Empire, and she would say "This is my favorite liquor".

The estate has belonged to the Dormoy family for three generations. The estate, which has experienced ups and downs in its history due to periods of prosperity followed by more difficult times, was even a sugar factory at one point before becoming a distillery again.

Today, La Favorite is one of the last remaining family-owned and independent distilleries. It offers a wide variety of rums, including white rum, amber rum, and aged rum.

At the end of the 17th century, the famous “Father Labat” was the parish priest of the commune of Macouba. At that time, the house located on the banks of the Roche River was a sugar plantation.

In 1790, Antoine Leroux-Préville acquired it and gave it its current name, Fonds-Préville. In 1845, Antoine Leroux-Préville's daughters sold the property to Jean-Marie Martin, a merchant in Saint-Pierre and husband of Marie Ferment, daughter of a major plantation owner on the island.

Today, the Crassous de Médeuil heirs farm Martinique's three main crops: bananas (75 ha), pineapples (6 ha), and sugar cane (55 ha). It is the only farm to do so using crop rotation. The presence of these three crops and the JM distillery on the same farm is unique in Martinique and even in the Caribbean.

Since November 1996, Martinique's agricultural rums, including JM rums, have been awarded the Martinique Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) designation. The Bellevue estate has 150 hectares of arable land, all of which is AOC terroir.

Saint James rum is said to have originated in Saint-Pierre-de-la-Martinique in 1765. In utmost secrecy, Reverend Father Edmond Lefébure, superior of the Brothers of Charity convent and a learned alchemist, crafted a white spirit of unprecedented quality. This cane-based eau-de-vie was known as “guildive” or “tafia,” terms derived from the English expression kill-devil, once used to describe early rum.

In 1763, King Louis XV authorized Martinique to export its rum. At the time, the only permitted destination was New England — now part of the United States. In 1765, to facilitate its sale abroad, it was decided to give the rum a name with strong Anglo-Saxon resonance: “Saint James.”

In 1885, the “Saint James” brand was officially registered, along with its iconic square bottle — the first of its kind in the world. This innovative design allowed for easier storage in ship holds and reduced breakage during rough crossings. That same year, Saint James launched its first rum, relying on advertising to quickly build its reputation.

On May 8, 1902, the eruption of Mount Pelée destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre and the main site of Saint James. The Saint James Habitation was only partially damaged.

In 1974, all production was centralized at a single site in Sainte-Marie, where the distillery still operates today. The official inauguration took place on December 23, 1974, in the presence of Jacques Chirac, then Prime Minister.

A museum was established near the Habitation to trace the history of rum in Martinique, from its origins to its modern evolution.

Today, the Saint James distillery remains active. Its sugarcane plantations span nearly 300 hectares.

A must-see: hop aboard the “Train des Plantations,” an authentic vintage steam train offering a scenic ride through the Atlantic North, winding through sugarcane fields and banana plantations.

Distillerie Dillon owes its name to Count Arthur Dillon, general and hero of the American Revolutionary War. He married a cousin of Joséphine de Beauharnais, Laure Girardin de Montgérald, owner of the house which, through this marriage, became the Dillon house. Elected deputy for Martinique in 1789, he was accused of conspiracy by Robespierre and beheaded in April 1794.

In 1857, Habitation Dillon was bought by the mayor of Saint Pierre, Pierre Hervé, who restored the canal and the dyke, and built a sugar mill, a guildery and railroads. But the sugar crisis of 1866 ruined it, and the plantation became a public limited company managed by Louis Domergue.

In 1891, a cyclone devastated the 18th-century dwelling and led to the death of Louis Domergue. In 1900, his son Raoul rebuilt it from a house in Saint-Pierre, which he had dismantled beam by beam, thus saving it from disaster.

But in 1919, one of the administrators had to comply with the quota policy and ended up transforming, in 1928, the distillery into a sugar factory. Managed by the de Laguarigue family, Habitation Dillon did not start making agricultural rum again until 1954.

It was bought in 1967 by the Bordeaux family company Bardinet: in more than twenty years, the Bardinet Group will quadruple its annual production by investing in fermentation tanks, distillation columns and an aging cellar with a capacity of three thousand barrels.

Since 1981, Dillon rum has been regularly awarded at the Concours Général Agricole, thus confirming its qualitative and commercial progress both on the Martinican and Guyanese markets as well as in mainland France, where it holds first place. Having become the property of the company La Martiniquaise in 1993, the Dillon brand continues to contribute to the influence of the Controlled Designation of Origin (A.O.C. in French for Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) Martinique, obtained in 1996.

Today, the Dillon distillery produces both rums and punches. During the visit, a slide show will allow you to see and understand the production and the different stages of production of agricultural rum, and then a tasting will be offered.

Anse Mabouyas is a lovely beach in Sainte-Luce that won't leave you indifferent. Located behind the Trois-Rivières distillery, it remains little visited due to the difficulty of getting there.

However, it will appeal to those in search of peace. It is not very popular. The water is crystal-clear and the sand blond. It offers ideal bathing conditions for the whole family.

It's also a very attractive spot for those wishing to picnic on-site. It boasts a large shaded lawn, ideal for those who want to eat without being exposed to the sun.

There are also showers for rinsing off after a swim.

The local population is more numerous there on weekends even if this beach remains behind the Corps de Garde beach or the beaches of Sainte-Anne.

To get there once you arrive in the town, head towards the “Mabouya” neighborhood or the Trois-Rivières Distillery.