Rum Connoisseur interview of the week:

Master Distiller at Medine distillery, which produces Penny Blue and Pink Pigeon Rums.

I graduated as a biochemical engineer and joined Medine Distillery in 1990.
I started in production and product development and have been general manager since 1996.

Although rum was produced in Mauritius since the introduction of sugar cane in the middle of the 17th century, it was mainly consumed white and rum ageing had disappeared in the country.

When I joined Medine Distillery I believed that ageing was the route to create premium quality rums and in 1996 I started to age our rums in oak casks coming from a whisky distillery in Scotland. Working on a Single Estate distillery, we have control over every process, from selecting the sugar canes, distillation, aging and blending, which allows us to showcase our rum and terroir at its very best.

We started slowly, trying to find the best distillation and the best casks, and we are proud now to have crafted award winning rums with the Penny Blue family.

We are involved in the whole process of rum production, from plantation of the sugarcanes to the bottling of hand selected fine matured rums. It is fascinating to participate in this long process, trying to achieve the best possible quality all the time. I always bring changes and innovations that will make a difference after maturation some 5 to 10 years later.

Continuous development of new products and new processes are very exciting and we have a lot of new ideas in mind.

We can see that around the world consumers are drinking less but better. For Penny Blue, exported round the world, we know that provenance and authenticity are becoming equally important for people choosing a rum. Mauritius has the potential to become a major player in the rum world, and we are excited to be part of it!

The next step for us is looking to release a Pure Cane Rum. Our idyllic location on the west coast of Mauritius nurtures our sugarcane to perfection, and the best way to show our terroir, is using the fresh pressed sugar cane juice to produce the rum. Penny Blue XO #005 is set to launch internationally, our latest release in our XO range. Constantly evolving, our premium aged rum blended from cognac, whisky and bourbon barrel casks.

The best place to find out more is on the Penny Blue rum website, and our Facebook and Twitter pages. @pennybluerum on twitter and Facebook.