Distillerie Riv Du Mat Irt@lapetitecreole Dt Oct 2033 39Meet Verena and Sébastien
And discover the different stages in the production of Reunion Island rum”.
Come and explore the oldest distillery still operating on Reunion Island
We’ll be heading to the east coast, where the sugar cane fields stretch off into the horizon, to find out all about how this famous Reunion Island rum is made. The day’s experience takes us into an extraordinary factory, the Rivière du Mât Distillery, which is both the biggest distillery on Reunion Island and the oldest one still in operation.
Reunion Island rum: ancestral know-how
The Rivière du Mât Distillery organises this tour at various time slots throughout the day, but for today, we’ve chosen to go late afternoon as it fits in better with coming back from our weekend in the Cirque of Salazie.
Once we arrived in Saint-Benoît, in the Beaufonds district, we went through the entrance to the distillery which is just next to the ‘scales’. We watched the cachalots* coming and going, loading and unloading the freshly cut sugar cane. We could already smell the sweet scent that fills the air.
Our guide, Verena, was waiting to greet us just in front of a stunning basalt building that had recently been restored. “This is our shop”, said the guide, “we’ll come back here at the end of the tour! For now, I’m going to take you into the distillery so you can find out all about the history and secrets of making Reunion Island rum”.
We also found out that the name of the distillery came from one of the biggest waterways in the east of the island, the Rivière du Mât. “It was founded in 1886 and since then, the ancestral know-how that has made this rum so famous over the years has been kept alive”, explained Véréna as an introduction.
The Rivière du Mât Distillery produces traditional rum using the molasses syrup from two of the island’s sugar cane plantations, the Gol plantation in Saint-Louis, and the Bois-Rouge plantation in Saint-André.
‘Gouzous’ and an impressive industrial site
After watching a film that lasts several minutes, listening to a presentation of the distillery and a summary of the different steps involved in making Reunion Island rum, we entered the industrial site. We came face to face with an impressive artwork painted on a vat by street artist Jace who is very well-known on Reunion Island. This huge artwork illustrates the famous ‘Gouzous’ and the distillery, as well as other symbols of Reunion Island, such as a volcano.
This was where we could appreciate just how enormous the place is. “The distillery can produce 40,000 litres of pure alcohol per day, which is 80,000 bottles of rum with an alcohol content of 49%”, the guide told us. “Every year, production varies between 7.5 million and 9.5 million litres of pure rum.”
We then wandered around the various installations and find out about the different steps involved in making traditional Reunion Island rum, thanks to our guide’s detailed explanations. We began with fermentation, the natural biological process whereby the sugar contained in the molasses syrup is transformed into alcohol using yeast. We observed the huge fermentation vats used to produce ‘fermented wine’. We couldn’t resist the urge to take a peek underneath the vats. A technician came to take a sample of the molasses syrup during our tour which meant we got to see first-hand the chocolate colour and very particular texture of this raw material that is used to make traditional rum. Then we moved on to the distillation phase, whereby alcohol is extracted from the fermented wine. The alcohol is then stored before being exported or aged in the Rivière du Mât cellars in Saint-Louis.
An innovative distillery, committed to an environmentally friendly approach.
“Vinasse is a by-product of the distillation process, and since 2011, we have been able to make use of this product thanks to anaerobic digestion. This process produces a biogas used to power the installation”, our guide told us. “This innovation means that we are the only factory on the island to be completely self-sufficient in energy. We also contribute to supplying green energy to a part of the island.” Our guide told us that the fertilisers from this process are also recovered and used in the sugar cane fields, therefore replacing imported chemical fertilisers. From tradition to innovation, the history of the sugar cane industry to environmental responsibility, we uncovered even more of the secrets behind making Reunion Island rum in every step of our experience.
Tasting the iconic Reunion Island rum.
At the Rivière du Mât Distillery, visitors not only learn about the secrets of making rum. They also get a captivating insight into the island’s sugar-producing history. We travelled back in time and discovered the renovated ruins of the past, from a time when there were once an abundance of sugar factories. The Beaufonds chimney is a listed Historic Monument and is evidence of the site’s transformation over the centuries.
Our tour ended at the distillery’s ‘Cave à Rhums’ for a tasting of the Rivière du Mât rums. We had an opportunity to taste the collection of white, flavoured and aged rums. Each bottle has a unique story to tell. Verena and Sebastien showed us how to recognise the different scents of the rum that we then got to taste, in moderation of course. The children could taste the famous La Cuite syrup. This tasting session was a great way to end our discovery of this fascinating world. While there, we seized the opportunity to buy some products directly from the producer to the consumer. It was a chance to take a little piece of Reunion Island back home with us.
*name given to the huge trucks used to transport sugar cane on Reunion Island
