Rhum Habitation BellevueOld 6 years vintage

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Habitation Bellevue

Marie-Galante, Guadeloupe

From a bend in the road, one can see the white blades of the windmill, breathe in the scent of distilling cane in the warm breeze, all against a backdrop of blue and green hues outlined by the flamboyant flame of the Quisqualis Indica, thus perfectly immersing oneself in the authentic sweetness of Marie-Galante. On the hillside of Capesterre and amidst the grazing cattle sits Habitation Bellevue, the last of the three producers of the renowned honest-to-goodness Guadeloupean rums.

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Bellevue is a magnificent 140-hectare plantation offering a 360° view of the surrounding 62 hectares of cane fields.

Habitation Bellevue

The historical traces of Habitation Bellevue sugar cane plantation date back to 1769, but it is the windmill, a symbol of the sugar refinery plant, which has been in existence since 1821. Located in the French Caribbean archipelago of Guadeloupe, on Marie-Galante, also known as the 'island of 100 mills', Bellevue’s mill is the only one still standing and working. Of the three remaining distilleries still smoking on Marie-Galante, Habitation Bellevue's old rums were the only ones not yet available to French metropolitan consumers. Henceforth, they will be exclusively distributed in the finest liquors and spirits boutique by APOTHEKA and available at APOTHEKA!

Bellevue is a magnificent 140-hectare plantation offering a 360° view of the 62 hectares of surrounding sugarcane fields. Linked to the muti-generational story of the Godefroy legacy, this family estate was given a new lease of life in 2001 when the Bardinet-La Martiniquaise group invested in the distillery's traditional Creole production equipment, composed of two continuous column stills, and its renewable energy technical potential. The high-capacity solar farm illustrates the distillery's ecological commitment, turning Bellevue into the world's only eco-positive estate, producing more energy than it consumes.

As the locals say, with a touch of pride and independence, the distillery's white agricultural rum (59% ABV) is an enduring institution in Marie-Galante and on the continent. However, Habitation Bellevue will henceforth enable you to discover its confidential aged rums reserve resulting from ancestral know-how. Traditional molasse rums ferment for 40 hours and then are distilled in a Creole column to attain their ideal bottling concentration of 45% ABV. In 2021, rare bottles of the 6 and 10-year-old Family Reserve, bottled in numbered decanters, made their appearance in France. We will also delight you with our 12-year-old Reserve in 2022 before introducing the repackaged VO and VSOP.

This is only a first taste of what is in the works as aging cellars, until now located on Guadeloupe for logistical reasons, are currently being built on the Bellevue's estate in Marie-Galante. Their completion is scheduled for the end of the first quarter of 2022, and they will be equipped with aging barrels. This improvement will inevitably boost the creative capacity of a young and promising team, that of the Damoiseau brothers.

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