Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We’ll take our leave and go
― From Wellerman (Sea Shanty) by Nathan Evans
Welcome to The Rum Diaries, our column designed to champion and showcase arguably the world’s most underrated spirits category and one that we believe deserves more attention in travel retail.
Each episode tells the story in words, pictures, video and tasting notes of a different rum, exploring not only the drink itself but also its back story.
Episode 3: Takamaka
Prelude: Takamaka sums up its approach to rum making in just seven words: “We are the spirit of the Seychelles.”
The family-owned company boasts the number-one spirits brand in the famed archipelago of islands in the Indian Ocean, off East Africa. In producing its stand-out expressions, Takamaka claims to “fill each bottle with the character of our 115 islands, our craft and our people”, ensuring its rums offer “a glimpse into our remote paradise”.
Its catchy, unusual name takes inspiration from the island’s stunning Anse Takamaka beach and two local tortoises. 
Takamaka’s story dates back to the year 2000 when Bernard d’Offay and his father Robert ordered a book on home distillation. Thus began a quest to produce ‘good’ rum.
Robert’s father, René Michel d’Offay, had rooted his grandchildren’s interest in rum through making the local Creole speciality Rum Arrangé. Inspired by how sailors would preserve fruits and spices in alcohol, Rum Arrangé was made by macerating leaves, fruit, seeds, bark and other ingredients for up to six months, after which it was enjoyed as a digestive or sweetened with cane sugar syrup.
With limited access to conventional distillation parts, Bernard and his father used their own backyard swimming pool as an interim cooling tower for their makeshift condenser. They visited their local supermarket to buy yeast and refined sugar and began experimenting.
They were joined by Bernard’s older brother Richard and after more than a year of testing – “resulting in both some truly questionable as well as some rather remarkable trial rums” – the brothers officially opened the Trois Frères Distillery at La Plaine St André in Seychelles in February 2002.
It is regarded as a heritage site, home not only to the distillery but also to a museum, medicinal garden, historical ruins and two Giant Aldabra tortoises who just happen to be called Taka and Maka.
Since producing their first dark rum soon after opening, Richard and Bernard say they have “honed their craft through their own sense of curiosity and discovery, but also through the limitations and curve balls that go hand-in-hand with the remoteness of the Seychelles”.
The island, they say, has impacted how they blend and age their rum. It has forged the role they play in their community and shaped who they are today as people and as rum makers.
For centuries, the Seychelles remained virtually unknown; a remote archipelago made up of more than 100 islands. It was 1,000 miles away from anywhere, hidden in the vastness of the Indian Ocean. In 1503 Vasco da Gama recorded the first official sighting of the Seychelles islands and a century later, in 1609, a British trading fleet set foot on Sainte Anne Island. It is said the ship’s crew marvelled an island paradise with plentiful freshwater, fish, coconuts, birds, sea turtles and giant tortoises. Seychelles was claimed by France in 1756 and under its reign the remote island nation’s agricultural economy began to grow with the planting of cinnamon and other exotic spices. In 1811, Seychelles became a permanent colony of Britain and, after more than two centuries of European reign, declared its independence on 29 June 1976. The d’Offay family was one of the first families to call Seychelles home. Pierre Louis had served in the Pondichéry Regiment in both India and Mauritius before relocating to Seychelles in 1778. He and his Mauritian wife Marie Elizabeth began farming land for food and timber and were early neighbours of the Jorre de St. Jorre family who established La Plaine St. André in 1792. |
Takamaka celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, understandably proud of its rating as the number-one spirits brand in the Seychelles.
Co-founder Bernard d’Offay underlines the key role the country has played and will continue to play in Takamaka’s development. As he points out, “discovery of this tropical island nation and its rum is a brilliant platform to grow” as the brand seeks expansion in global travel retail.
Q&A
When, where and why did Takamaka enter travel retail?
It’s been a long journey. Working with our father, we started experimenting with rum more than 20 years ago. We followed a book on distillation we bought on the internet and used our swimming pool as a makeshift cooling tower.
We had absolutely no experience but were committed to making rums our fellow islanders would enjoy and quickly managed to convince my brother to join. It’s been a rollercoaster over the past two decades, but what a journey.
We entered travel retail in our home market of the Seychelles in 2015, but the game changer for us was in 2017 with Gulf Beverages and our entry into Dubai Duty Free. As an emerging brand, one of the big challenges was moving into 1-litre glass format.
Dubai Duty Free gave us the confidence to invest in the channel and we have not looked back since. And now we have our very first owned travel retail space.
What role does the channel play for you?
Travel retail is absolutely key for us. Our Seychelles home is our greatest asset; the very name speaks to the global traveller.
In 2021, we worked with the Pearlfisher creative agency to redesign our brand, drawing inspiration from the five-segmented flag of The Seychelles to celebrate our deep connection to our Indian Ocean archipelago. It’s beautiful, bright and tropical – just like the islands – and truly captures the unique identity of Takamaka.
We started with the aim of producing great rum for our local market. But with our international expansion over the last couple of years we also want our rums to be ambassadors for the Seychelles. The global travel retail channel is such an important part of bringing it to people all around the world.
What makes the brand stand out in travel retail?
Firstly, our rums have a really strong shelf presence; the vibrancy and colours really work to catch the eye and bring to life our tropical paradise.
Where The Seychelles Series offers a taste of what is drunk on the beach, the St André Series really pushes the boundaries of everything the fledgling category of Seychellois rum can be
We’re also very confident in our line-up. The Seychelles Series, which was our first to launch internationally, is a premium collection of seven bottles that has been winning awards around the world for a while now.
The four rums – Rum Blanc, Dark Spiced, Zenn and Overproof – and two rum liqueurs, Zannannan (Pineapple) and Koko (Coconut) that make up the series are still really accessible while bringing something unique to the category. Distilled from molasses in a continuous column still, we dilute with natural spring water from Takamaka’s water source high in the Seychelles mountains.
Our latest ultra-premium collection, the St André Series, is the product of 20 years of experimentation and we feel pretty confident saying there is nothing else out there like it.
Where The Seychelles Series offers a taste of what is drunk on the beach, the St André Series really pushes the boundaries of everything the fledgling category of Seychellois rum can be.
We combine a variety of techniques and methods to create the four rums – Extra Noir, Zepis Kreol, Pti Lakaz and Grankaz – using a mix of cane and molasses rums, combining pot and column distilled rums, utilising pressed rums, and finally blending with world-class Bajan rums from the amazing Foursquare.
Although all our rums are premium and above, we are committed to being competitive on price and investing in key markets that we believe are right for Takamaka.
The brand is listed with Dubai Duty Free. How important was that to Takamaka and are there any other leading retailers you have your eyes on?
That first listing outside of our home in the Seychelles was such an important step for us in expanding globally. The belief and support extended to us by both Gulf Beverages and the leaders within Dubai Duty Free was astonishing. As such a globally important location, their willingness to support and truly help guide the brand in the channel has been invaluable and we are truly grateful.
In 2021, we expanded into eight new global markets from Spain to Slovenia, bringing the total to 17 around the world.
Over the last year, we have really worked to grow our footprint across Europe with brilliant partners, including La Maison du Whisky in France. Our goal for the rest of this year and into next is to actively seek out opportunities in travel retail specifically in the EMEA region.
And the standalone boutique which has opened at Seychelles International Airport. Is that regarded as a flagship store?
Absolutely! We wanted to celebrate the return of international visitors to our home with a space – on the first floor of the International Departures terminal – that could really bring the brand to life and offer a unique final taste of the Seychelles.
It is an amazing retail space where visitors can buy our rums to take home to their family and friends (or enjoy themselves) as well as some of our high-quality branded merchandise.
We also have seating for 120 in the Takamaka Bar, which was specifically designed to feel like the beach bars you find all over the islands. We have our cocktails on draft alongside some of our favourite rum classics.
The interior (also designed by Pearlfisher) uses natural materials wherever possible and we have even incorporated some reclaimed ex-rum barrels from the distillery as well as a copper still to anchor the design. There is also a display of our history and connection to the islands along one wall for passengers whiling away the hours waiting for their flights.
We are really proud of what we have created, and visitors are absolutely loving it. We would love to recreate this elsewhere, but there was nowhere more fitting for our first owned-travel retail space than Seychelles International Airport.
Can you give us an idea of your ambitions in travel retail? Are you targeting any particular markets or do you have a global plan?
We have seen amazing growth as a brand and global travel retail is an essential component of that. So our goal for the foreseeable future is to continue to support it.
We are seeing really encouraging growth in travel retail but beyond the volumes, it is also an amazing shop window for our brand. Our on-shelf visibility and the portfolio deliver a great offering for both the retailer and consumer.
Our global plan very much builds on the Seychelles as a destination. It is rightly aspirational and travelling shoppers are driven by discovery. Discovery of this tropical island nation and its rum is a brilliant platform to grow.
Considering travel retail in general, how do you think rum is represented within the wine & spirits category?
We would love to see the nuances and styles of rum being displayed in many ways similar to that of whisky. There are so many different styles of rum that with the right explanations as a category we can talk to the gin drinker as much as the Islay single malt consumer.
Overall, the category is in a great position now to really grow its footprint across global travel retail with a bunch of very passionately made, brilliant liquids that talk to the craft of the liquid and its versatility.
