Situated in the middle of the Mozambique Channel and the Indian Ocean, Madagascar has historically been a crossroads for travellers and a stopover country. Since the 15th century, the large island has undergone waves of migrations of navigators exploring the region. The island has been a haven for pirates, adventure seekers and has been explored by the British Royal Navy in the north.
From those ancient times to modern times, the island and its customs have changed dramatically, yet rum is still drunk throughout the land.

Made from sugar cane molasses, rum is still widely consumed today.
In this article we take a look at this alcoholic beverage in Madagascar which has been passed down through time.

Everyday alcohol: the alcohol of everyday life.

Rum, as it is called, is the most drunk alcohol on the red island, followed by wine in casks. Imported by the very first visitors to the island of Madagascar, rum is the reference drink when talking about the island: Whether by women, men, and sometimes children, rum is drunk by all Malagasy.

In restaurants, it is used as a liqueur to flambé bananas as a dessert, or it is poured into ice creams and on fruits to enhance their flavours. The drink is sometimes found in pastries.

How many degrees?

From 27.5° to 40° the island sells many bottles of rum within its borders. There are nearly 20 brands of bottles that remain throughout the island.
Also brewed on a daily basis by farmers is artisanal rum, or “toka gasy”, literally Malagasy alcohol. It is an absinthe that is extracted directly from sugar cane and green plants. Its alcohol content can rise above 70° depending on its fermentation.
Depending on taste and preference, there are several types of rum, including white rum, shaded rum, and vanilla rum. Here are the historical bottles that you will find in every grocery shop authorized to sell rum.

The rums to taste, which have more, and which please.

The 33 cl sambo

This is a bottle that has endured through the ages. It is a small 33cl brown bottle with an extremely short or even non-existent neck and a singularly large lip. It contains rum and its ring is covered by a cork that can be removed more easily with a penknife or a cutlass. Despite the difficulty of opening it, the sambo bottle has endured over time and is still highly regarded by rum lovers.

Dzama cuvée noire

Produced by the rum distillery in Nosy be, the cuvée noire is a rum that is very popular in bars and very present in supermarkets. It is the rum which best represents the variety of shaded rum with its quality-price ratio. It is a long 35 cl bottle with a rounded shoulder. The bottle has a black and silver label around the edges.

Ambilobe

A very popular bottle of white rum for local consumption, very present in bars and less so in supermarkets. The bottle is named after one of the regions where the rum comes from in Madagascar. It is the typical rum drunk between colleagues at 4pm. The bottle has a simple design with a yellow label depicting a man on a pirogue surrounded by sugar cane.

Captain Joe

White rum of 35 cl the bottle is very appreciated in local consumption. Marketed in 2010, it is the youngest bottle in this article, which testifies to the presence of rum in the daily life of the Malagasy. The bottle has a blue label and yellow stripes, a strong vanilla aroma is released when the bottle is opened. The bottles are made of plastic, the only representative of the material in this article.

Rum is the island’s primary alcoholic beverage and is drunk at almost all hours of the day. Apart from cocktails and desserts, rum is also used in ancestral traditions. It is common to pour rum on the ground to honour the ancestors and venerate the place.
Madagascar’s rum is extracted from the sugar cane plantations that grow on the island. In the region of Nosy be and Ambilobe, in Sambirano, etc… The sugar cane plants are cut into sticks, which are then crushed, the juice is then fermented and distilled in columns and stills to produce ethanol.
It should be noted that Madagascar is a rum merchant in the Indian Ocean. From the days of piracy to the present day, the island exports and imports bottles of rum and whisky from all over the world. More than cultural, rum has its connections, making it a bedrock of the big island.