Vintage Rums from Domaine Severin

12 November 2023 | Buyer's Guide
Vintage Rums from Domaine Severin

It was at the beginning of the 19th century, in 1803, that a small sugar factory was created near the Route de Cadet, north of Basse Terre, in Guadeloupe . We had to wait until the end of the century to see the distillery appear , while a sugar crisis hit the West Indies. At the same time, the estate diversified by investing in the pineapple cannery. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Beauvarlet family acquired the estate and called on a nephew, Henri Marsolle , to boost rum production. He left the family distillery in which he worked in Bouillante to work for the Domaine de Severin distillery.

In 1928, he bought the distillery which he managed until 1966, when he gave way to one of his sons Joseph Marsolle . With his wife May, Joseph Marsolle works on his rums and aims for quality. In the 1980s, the estate expanded its activity. In particular, facilities are being created to welcome tourists. But above all we are building a spicy sauce factory.

Ancienne roue à aube du Domaine de Severin
Ancienne roue à aube du Domaine de Severin
Ancien moulin de broyage du Domaine de Severin
Ancien moulin de broyage du Domaine de Severin
Ancien chai du Domaine de Severin
Ancien chai du Domaine de Severin

At that time the distillery employed 18 people and produced around 211,000 liters of 50% alcohol, including only 15,000 liters of old rum . The production of old Séverin rums therefore only represents around 7% of the distillery's total production. These rums are aged in American and French oak barrels , with a capacity varying from 180 to 250 liters . The Severin distillery had nearly 200 aging barrels in the 1980s. If 35% of white rums are exported, old rums are almost entirely consumed on site .

Three Exceptional vintages

Excellence Rhum offers you here three exceptional vintage vintages from Domaine de Severin.

Severin, Old Rum, 1970's

We present to you an old rum from the end of the 1970s which has the particularity of being 50% ! This was extremely rare at the time. Distilled and bottled at the Domaine , this rum precedes the period of packaging renewal which took place in the 1980s. We are in fact, here on an astonishing  label stuck on one of the edges of the bottle.

Severin, Old Rum, 1980

The second bottle is an old rum from 1980 , also rare . Its degree of consumption is 45% which corresponds to the tradition of bottling old rums at Severin . In the 1980s, many of Domaine Severin's old rums reached the age of six years. This 1980 vintage develops very pleasant sweet fruity notes .

Severin, Old Rum, 1986

Finally, Excellence Rhum presents this 1986 vintage Severin old rum . Distilled, aged in oak barrels and bottled at the estate, this rum will delight lovers of rarities. It is 45% , at one time many old rums were bottled around 43%. 20 years after the takeover of the Domaine by Joseph Marsolle , the latter has selected an exceptional rum.

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Written by

Matthieu Lange ExcellenceRhum
Matthieu Lange
Spirits Advisor