Our Rhumerie is located on the Groupement Foncier Agricole (GFA) Domaine Marquisat de Sainte-Marie, close to the Longueteau Distillery. The estate has belonged to the Longueteau family since 1890. In 2005, François Longueteau bought the farmland and distillery from his father, producing 230,000 liters at 50° alc (53% bulk and 47% packaged white rum).

At the time, old rum production in Guadeloupe was marginal, with only a few distilleries using a significant proportion of their run rum for undergrowth maturation.

It was against this backdrop, and with a view to developing Guadeloupe's agricultural aged rums, that Rhumerie Karukera was created in 2006. François Longueteau and myself sealed an alliance to equip the Marquisat de Sainte-Marie with modern facilities to mature the eaux-de-vie produced at the distillery into rhum blanc and rhum vieux. The Marquisat de Sainte-Marie company was formed, and the Karukera brand, emblematic of the 1970s, was resurrected for the production of this new unit.

Grégoire HAYOT