TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Toppers Rhum won best Rum

Hello Folks , Toppers Rhum wins best Caribbean Rum Distillery. Daily Herald .

Not surprised they "won" .....they had a huge get out the PR vote push. It is kind of good but do they really make it from scratch? Or just add some sort of flavoring ?

Good question ? And not my kind of booze lol.

From what I recall, they purchase rum in bulk and flavor it on the island. Perhaps someone with more knowledge can verify.

That is what I understood from years past. Not sure about present.

That is my understanding, too, in talking to locals. I don't believe there are any rum distilleries on the island, since there is no sugar cane grown. Instead, they add various flavours and spices to the imported rum and bottle it with their own brand names.

I also suspect it's cheaper to ship in the distilled rum than the raw sugar cane to produce it, but that is just a guess on my part.

"I also suspect it's cheaper to ship in the distilled rum than the raw sugar cane to produce it, but that is just a guess on my part."
What other islands and countries do to distill their rum that don't grow sugar cane is to import the Molasses to distill from other cane producing countries. That could also be what Topper is doing.

Was at Hilton Head Island, SC recently and stopped at an outdoor bar for some liquid refreshment. While looking at the drink menu, I noticed they had three different flavors of Topper's Rhum from Sint Maarten. I think his business partner is from Charleston. Small world.

The rich Family that lost a brother in Cupecoy are the ones with the money .

We buy ma dou dou

We buy this Rhum all the time at Total Wine and Spirits here in Florida. The Mocha Momma is so good and smooth. At parties we offer shots and people aren't sure so they say "just a taste". 4 shots later we have to cut them all off.
Liliana

The ladies that own Ma Dou Dou showed us how they make the infused rums and spices. It's all home had with gallons of Bacardi rum! It's a cute place, they are lovely. They have my business. http://www.rhummadoudou.com/shop/infos.php

I been to Salegua distillery, the only one on the island. To find where it;s located, if you are coming off Air Port road and going to Mary's Boone turn right on the first road and it will be on the left side of the rough street, the whole opperation is there. If you can't find the place ask at Ace car rental, last I knew the owner was in the car rental business also.
I've been to Topper's and they were just flavoring and coloring the rum.

Toppers website claims to distill the rhum on St Maarten. Not just flavor it.

Ma Dou Dou claims to bring it in from another French Island and flavor it on St Martin.

Which is true?

"Topper’s Rhum uses all natural flavors that are characteristic of the tropics. We blend these with our premium Caribbean rhum to create a delicate and true-to-it’s-flavor spirit with an undeniably smooth finish."

I would be surprised if they distilled their own rhum. More likely that they have someone make it for them and then flavor it....but that is just a guess.

Topper's is a distillery. and the rhum is made right there in their facility. Below is a little piece about their facility. If you would like more information just let me know.


"A knowledgeable guide will give you a hands-on tour
as you walk through the 6,000 sq. Ft. distillery.
You will learn a little rum history and behind the scenes
look at how they ferment, distill, and filter rum."

Yes. Where are they importing the cane or Molasses from to make the rum?

Good to know.

Yeah buddy! We have two bottle in the fridge from our recent trip. Like the banana vanilla chilled... over real vanilla ice cream if we have it.

Really can't say !

Banana vanilla is our favorite as well.

We went to the Ma Dou Dou lil operation ( it's a cute little house) , the gal's that own it gave us a tour. Inside you'll find all the spices they grow and bottle as well as all the flavors of there rum. Out back you'll find all the blending of the rum with gallons of Bacardi rum that foments in the sun before being bottled in the hand painted bottles that are truly a work of art!!

I did that a few years back before Irma. Nice little operation. Tasted a few too.

bdeeley, -- Go to Salegua distillery and see what a real one looks like. We listened to the so called "knowledgeable guide" at Toppers, but there wasn't a real distillery there.