Post #360713 by paulipbartender on Tue, Feb 12, 2008 7:50 AM

This message from the Minister of Rum Ed Hamilton http://www.ministryofrum.com

I can confirm that the St. James US distribution agreement expired and that St. James rhums will suffer a distribution interruption in the US. I can also confirm that the St. James distillery is alive and well.

All of the St. James rhum shipped to the US is bottled in and shipped from France and not Martinique, though I've been told otherwise, by marketers. The bottles filled in Martinique are of 700 and 1000ml and not 750ml which is the required volume for the US market. It takes several hours to change the bottle size on a bottling line and the US volume was too small to warrant the extra cost and expense of shipping to the US from Martinique. Contract bottlers in France were consolidating St. James rhums distilled and aged in Martinique for the US market, reducing bottling and shipping costs to the small US market.