HSE (Habitation Saint-Étienne)

Habitation Saint-Étienne (also known as Saint-Étienne or HSE) has origins tied to the old La Maugée estate; the property took the name Habitation Saint-Étienne after the site was acquired in 1882. The historic estate hosted a distillery in the following centuries; modern production of HSE rhums takes place at the Distillerie du Simon, while Habitation Saint-Étienne is preserved as a historic site and used for aging, display and sales. The brand was relaunched and developed by its current owners from the 1990s and is today one of the recognized names in Martinique rhum agricole production.

Focus on terroir and the quality of the sugarcane 'pur jus': selection of cane varieties, respect for the production phases required by the AOC Martinique and experimentation through vintages, finishes and small single-cask selections to showcase different expressions of rhum agricole.

Martinique (Habitation Saint-Étienne, Gros-Morne) with distillation carried out at the Distillerie du Simon (Le François).

Typical production of AOC rhum agricole: use of fresh sugarcane juice (pur jus de canne), fermentation and distillation on Creole-type columns; subsequent maturation and aging in casks for aged expressions, with some bottles receiving wine-cask finishes or released as single-cask bottlings.

Column distillation of the Creole type (traditional column), typical of rhum agricole; distillation takes place at the Distillerie du Simon.

Aging in oak casks for the 'vieux' expressions; some references are finished in wine casks (e.g. Sauternes, Bordeaux) or released as single-cask and vintage bottlings.