“I have very good feedback on the first tastings. But I remain humble, because we are only in the infancy when it comes to rum,” he confides. Equipped with a double-twisted still unique in France, it produces medium rum and high esters, typical of Jamaica, from organic molasses from Cuba.

” That’s what I like. I had to do a lot of research because there is little information about this type of rums and I wanted to come up with something different. It took me two years to design the still, which was made by an artisan boilermaker. This double twist is fantastic, because it allows a concentration of aromas”, assures with passion Gilles Victors, who uses a Jamaican technique called dunder to stand out.

Eco-responsible production

With 600 to 700 bottles of this first edition by the end of January, Straw Bale is thus expanding its range, which currently includes three gins, two whiskeys and a pastis. “We produce around 10,000 bottles a year. Our whiskeys are aging, which will allow us to offer, from March, cuvées of 800 bottles with more regularity, as for our single cask aged in Pedro Ximenez casks”, specifies the one who is trained in Scotland, where he found inspiration for his own stills.

The walls of the Straw Bale distillery, made of wood and straw, hence its name which means straw bale, allow excellent insulation and storage of the barrels. Because the development of the company is based on a clear philosophy and environmentally friendly production. “I have set up an agricultural sector and work in confidence with the farmers who grow my cereals. I only use organic cereals, French and malted in France”, explains Gilles Victors. A desire is also present for the plants necessary for the production of gin and pastis, with the exception of organic star anise, produced in particular in Vietnam. In 2019, he also created a botanical garden and aims to produce 70% of his ingredients there, organically, in less than 2 years.