Near Toulouse, its organic Jamaican rums are ready to conquer the market
Renowned distiller based north of Toulouse, Gilles Victor will market his whiskeys from next year as well as his latest creation, a premium organic Jamaican rum.
How far can Gilles Victor’s passion take him? As far as possible hope lovers of premium spirits! The art cutler, who put this passion on hold for some time, discovered another one five years ago: distillery. Straw Bale because built in bales of straw. And quickly, with its first spirits, in particular a beautiful range of gin, the craftsman made a name for himself. Its first whiskies, some of which are aged in majestic Andalusian casks from Pedro Ximénez, and others more local (Read box), will be marketed next year. But the adventure does not stop there. A new chapter is being written at the moment with another alcohol that should also be talked about: rum. Gilles Victor is proud to have become, he says, “the only owner, in France, of a double replica Jamaican rum still”.
A palace of aromas
To better understand this language, Gilles Victor distills a few explanations: “the principle of double retorts makes it possible to carry out a distillation with additional stages, which ensures to develop the maximum of aromas and to obtain high quality rums of the medium type. and high esters. His is a so-called molasses rum. “It is therefore not an agricultural rum made directly from sugar cane. Here, it is molasses, this residue from the production of cane sugar, which is used”, specifies Gilles Victor. This molasses is a blackish liquid, with a high sugar content, which gives off an impressive smell of licorice. It is this, together with the water and the yeasts, which is put into the still which then does the work of transformation. Gilles Victor’s still is unique, made to measure, according to his plans kept secret because it is this personal touch as well as details in the shapes and assemblies that make the difference. In the end, one thousand liters of liquid give about one hundred liters of rum at each distillation. At Straw Bale, no less than six hundred bottles of rum are issued for the start of the year.
On the strength of his growing success, Gilles Victor has already acquired another cellar to store his barrels. He also does not rule out integrating another, larger distillery, still with an ethic that has become the DNA of Straw Bale. This requirement, Gilles Victor imposes it from the raw material, organic, selected by his own care. It extends it to its packaging with a reduction in the weight of its bottles which it also wishes to make 100% recyclable from next year.
whiskey and negrette
Gilles Victor has teamed up with a renowned winemaker, Marc Penavayre, from Plaisance, to age whiskeys in barrels of Négrette, the flagship grape variety of the Fronton vineyard. The first results are, according to the two friends, “surprising”. “We smell notes of raisins, figs, spices, it’s a nice surprise”. with “very promising” aging in amphoras according to Gilles Victor.