Clément 1952 Très Vieux Rhum Agricole

Since 1887 the production of Clément rums has been carried out following the purest traditions and most time-honored methods inherited from Homère and Charles Clément. Jealously preserved, this family know-how has been passed on from one generation to the next. In 1887, Homère Clément – at the time a physician and member of the French parliament as well as mayor of the village of Le François – purchased the Acajou Estate and started the Clément rum business. It was his son Charles who really put his heart and soul into the family business, taking a vested interest in rum production and making the Estate a major attraction for purchasers of rum visiting Martinique. Today, the “Habitation Clément” (Estate) – considered the Mecca of rum production in Martinique – is the only Creole home listed as a historic monument and entirely open to the public. Indeed, the Estate embodies the living heritage of Martinique. Only the finest and most longstanding traditions inherited from its founder are used for making Clément rums, which are produced starting from pure fermented sugar cane juice in strict observance of current guidelines regulating their certification with Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC).
The rigorous selection of a wide variety of the most aromatic sugar canes, coupled with the expert know-how of the master distiller, have given Clément rum its unique personality. Indeed, a superb alchemy between rum and wood orchestrated by the Cellar Master is what gives old rums by Clément their well-deserved notoriety. The history of the Clément Estate is also distinguished by its invaluable expertise in the field of rum aging, where special “cuvées” and other prestigious vintage rums are just a few of their finest achievements. These old rums, the result of an initial selection of the best white rums, are allowed to age for many years in oak casks which give them their characteristically intense fragrance and persisting flavour, in addition to the finest and most complex aromas. During this slow maturing process, in fact, the tannin from the oak casks confers that most wonderful and oh-so-familiar amber colour to rum. The climate of Martinique considerably accelerates the rum aging process which also leads to increased « angels share ». Each year, such loss through evaporation is compensated for with an equivalent volume of rum from the same year. This is known as “topping up”. Distilled in 1952, then stored in casks for over thirty years and subsequently in wooden vats for another ten years, this rum was bottled at the Estate in 1991.