The Dillon estate has been growing cane since 1690, but the name comes from Count Arthur Dillon — an Irish-descended colonel who fought alongside Lafayette in the American Revolution, stopped in Martinique on the way home, fell in love with a Creole widow named Marie-Françoise de Girardin, married her in 1784, and inherited the old sugar plantation. The house dates its rum-making to 1779, and the distillery still stands in Fort-de-France, powered by a Corliss steam engine built in 1922 that runs entirely on bagasse — the dried cane fiber left after pressing. Dillon holds AOC Martinique status, granted in 1996 and still the only appellation d'origine contrôlée for rum anywhere in the world: cane grown in designated communes, pressed and distilled fresh rather than from molasses, aged and bottled on the island. Dillon grows its own cane across ten varieties in the Basse-Pointe region on the Atlantic coast, ferments the juice 24 to 48 hours, and distills in a Creole column to 65% ABV. The range runs from the Blanc and the Canne Bleue at 50% — the classic Ti' Punch rums — through the VSOP Très Vieux at 43%, the 9-year XO, and Hors d'Âge, with recent gold and silver medals at the Concours Général Agricole. Genuine Martinique agricole with 240 years behind it.

Browse our full Dillon collection with fast nationwide shipping delivered straight to your door.