Light Rums

Stemming from the local sugar cane molasses fermentation – non alcohol content between 50 and 120 g/HLAP (hectolitre pure alcohol), its neutrality is perfect. This light rum is often used in the production of rum-based wine & spirits.

Traditional Rums

Stemming from the local sugar cane molasses fermentation – non alcohol content over 225 g/HLAP (hectolitres pure alcohol), its character makes it a premium rum for tasting and an exquisite base for cocktails.
A traditional rum by Distillerie de Savanna: Savanna Intense

Agricultural Rums

Stemming from the vesou or the local sugar cane juice – non alcohol content over 225 g/HLAP (hectolitres pure alcohol), its character strongly reminds the sugar cane taste. Crafted for a more discerning consumer.
A agricultural rum by Distillerie de Savanna: Savanna Créol

Heavy flavour Rums

Stemming from the local sugar cane molasses fermentation – non alcohol content over 800 g/HLAP (hectolitres pure alcohol) and minimal ester content of 500 g/HLAP, its flavour and its scent are perfect to match culinary dishes. Also recommended for tasting parties.
A heavy flavour rum byDistillerie de Savanna: Savanna Lontan

Mature Rums

Stemming from a 3-year or less maturing process of traditional rum in oak casks and high-capacity oak barrels, this mature rum is the very in-between flavour of white and old rum. Specifically adapted to punch and cocktails, you can merely customize your recipes with such a rum.
A mature rum byDistillerie de Savanna: Savanna Métis

Old Rums

Aged of 3 to 15 years, these old rums are stemming from the maturing process of traditional rum in 400 litres oak french casks – non alcohol content over 325 g/HLAP (hectolitre pure alcohol). Their majesty is wordless and their characters purely delight the connoisseurs’ palates.
An old rum byDistillerie de Savanna: Cap Savanna

The Fermentation Process

Under a bacterial action, sugar -contained in raw materials deriving from cane production- is transformed in alcohol through fermentation. Generally, these raw materials contain a high share of “non sugar” which determines the genuine character of rums.

As many sugar refineries, Distillerie de Savanna is equipped with a discontinuing fermentation process. The fermentation is composed by eight 100 m3 fermentors linked to their own stirrers. This discontinuity process assured the production of high-quality rums. Nevertheless, the only equipment organization is not sufficient enough to guarantee the production of top high-quality rums: this part of excellence in rums lies in the ferment technology developed by Distillerie de Savanna. Indeed, it is in the workshops where lies all the secret of its rum production that Distillerie de Savanna implements its unique know-how making its rums pure and original.

The ferments implementation needs a sugar musts preparation (molasses or sugar can juice) which composition will lead to the production of the awaited rum.

At the end of this process, the type of rum to be produced will be determined depending on the alcohol content (between 3.5 and 8%) of the wine resulting from the fermentation process and abiding by the standards of maximal industrial hygiene.

The Distillation process

The distillation is a process aiming at separating the various components of the resulting wine obtained after fermentation by heating it to separate water from alcohol and from impurities.

Generally speaking, distillation workshops are mainly formed with distillation columns – continuing devices. Depending on quality and quantity of rum production, these columns are more or less sophisticated. In addition, these columns are for the most part made of copper standing as a required element to obtain good-quality brandies.

The distillation workshops are used to extract brandies stemming from the fermentation process and they do complete the vital chemical reactions to obtain high-quality rums.. The art of distillation consist in optimizing the totality of the parameters so as to extract the finest cores of the manufactured rums. What is more, the quality and the quantity of non alcohol are mainly influenced by the activity of these workshops.
The whole group of production workshops is managed by a central system with numerical control. As the production process nerve, this system enables operators to guarantee the production pace on a regular basis and controls the abiding by procedures so as to assure a flawless quality in production.

A pre-storage before the manufacturing of the batch process follows the distillation workshops step. The resulting batches are made homogeneous, sampled and analysed by Distillerie de Savanna laboratory. Then, standard products are sent either into storage or to maturing storehouses.

The Maturing storehouse process

Distillerie de Savanna maturing storehouses were created in 1964. Once located on the previous manufacturing plant in Saint-Paul town, they were transferred in Bois-Rouge – Saint-André town- in 1995. Designed to produce from 3 to 10-year old rums in accordance with the purest Reunion Island tradition, these storehouses benefited from the transfer by getting equipped with maturing gears helpful for the straw rum production. In 1999, Distillerie de Savanna invested in high-capacity storehouses by tripling the current area of storage.
The barrels used to produce old rums are exclusively made of oak wood from France and their storage capacity is based on an average of 400 litres. Concerning their arrangement, these barrels are either ordered in rack – Creole style – or in “rime” – Cognac style. Currently, Distillerie de Savanna counts upon 650 casks in storage corresponding to a volume of 260,000 litres undergoing a maturing storehouse process.
Soon, Distillerie de Savanna will attain its maximum storage capacity by storing a total of 785 casks of 400 litres each representing a total of 314,000 litres of rums undergoing the maturing process. Thanks to this capacity, Distillerie de Savanna will have the biggest spirits storehouse in Reunion Island.

The Laboratory
So as to ensure the quality of the produced rums and to abide by hygiene standards, Distillerie de Savanna puts a large part of its efforts in roughly controlling the whole manufacturing process. These controls are performed by Distillerie de Savanna internal laboratory equipped with the state-of –the-art technology. Spreading on 150 m2, this laboratory is divided in 3 departments:

1- Controlling department: taking care of controlling each step of the manufacturing process, implementing the approved local standard administrative controls during the all length of the rum crop;
2- Preparation department: preparing every the yeasts and bacteria required for each type of rum production;
3- Quality department: updating the new products, developing the business intelligence of Distillerie de Savanna, following and managing research & development projects. This department is often approached to deal with the more sharp aspects of the products’ quality.