Maison Ferrand, Ars, France (blending and infusion) using Caribbean base rums

Plantation Stiggins' Fancy Pineapple

Maison Ferrand

Before Stiggins' Fancy, flavored rum meant artificial sweeteners and neon colors. Alexandre Gabriel and David Wondrich's experiment asked a different question: what if you used real fruit, real distillation, and treated infusion as seriously as barrel aging? The dual-infusion method — rinds distilled for bright aromatics, fruit macerated in dark rum for depth — is an engineering solution to a flavor problem. The result is a rum that tastes genuinely of pineapple without tasting like a pineapple candy. It proved that the flavored spirits category could be legitimate, and it changed the conversation for every brand that followed.