Mother Mesccia

History

Mother Mesccia was born in the heart of the Principality of Monaco and represents the meeting of the Caribbean with the Mediterranean. Its history has its roots in the 17th century, a time when the port of Monte Carlo pulsated with trade and Genoese ships brought back from the distant Caribbean lands a then exotic product: rum. At the time, the Monegasque custom was to mix it with European spirits such as vermouth and marsala. Genoese sailors christened this mixture 'mesccia', a dialect term that evoked its 'mixture' nature.

The desire to revive this ancient tradition was born in 2021, when the Principality turned to Luca Gargano, a leading figure in the world of rum, to find a solution that would honour history with a contemporary product of excellence.

Luca suggests replacing old-fashioned blending with ageing in barrels that have previously contained vermouth and Marsala. And, to produce a superior quality rum in Monaco, he suggests starting with sugar cane from the Caribbean, with the juice distilled a first time in Haiti and a second time in Monaco.

The resulting white distillate is thus the 'mother' of the future Mesccia, the rum that will be aged in ex-vermouth and ex-Marsala casks, and is therefore called Mother Mesccia.

Production Method

The production process of Mother Mesccia begins in Haiti, in the region of Saint-Michel-de-l'Attalaye, where the prized unhybridized Crystalline sugar cane comes from. Grown in the land of Michel Sajous, the cane is harvested by hand and pressed by Sajous himself. The resulting juice is then subjected to a long fermentation with wild yeasts.

The fermented juice is distilled for the first time in Haiti, using a 380-litre Mueller discontinuous still in a bain-marie, at the Distillerie de Port-au-Prince. This first distillation is essential to allow the liquid to be transported to Europe without alteration. This results in a semi-finished product with an alcohol content of between 22% and 34%, which is then stored in drums and shipped to Monaco-Montecarlo.

At L'Orangerie / Distillerie de Monaco, the first and only distillery in the Principality, the liquid is distilled in a Khote still. At this stage, Master Distiller Philip Culazzo performs the delicate process of cutting off the head and tail.

The key to the production of Mother Mesccia is therefore the double 'remote' distillation, which allows the essence of the best raw material to be preserved, while still making it a product specific to the Principality of Monaco.