The first thing Alexandre Gabriel talks about isn’t cognac, but a hurricane.
Weeks before our meet, Hurricane Beryl had torn through Jamaica, ripping the roof from Long Pond Distillery, one of the Caribbean’s most historic rum producers. Gabriel, founder and master blender of Maison Ferrand, recalls the destruction with visceral disappointment.
“My little secret dream was to fix it one day,” he says of the historic column still lost in the storm. Of course, if it was a matter of simply fixing machinery, he wouldn’t have spoken in such forlorn terms. A fragment of tradition was obliterated up by the storm that day; equipment worth far more than the sum of its components. But Alexandre is equal parts archivist, innovator and excavator, and although our roots are integral to our trajectory, many and more form in the wake of catastrophe.
“Nature always prevails. It always finds a way.”
Throughout a long afternoon at Sofitel St James, Gabriel rarely speaks like a businessman. Instead, he talks like a custodian: of places, traditions, archives, people and stories. The spirits are almost secondary. Almost.
Over a succession of cocktails and small plates, including exceptional sliders paired with pickle gin martinis made using Citadelle Gin – Maison Ferrand’s pioneering French gin – the conversation moves seamlessly between Caribbean rum, forgotten cognac traditions, yeast cultures, family, climate change and the importance of curiosity.
Maison Ferrand has grown into one of the world’s most respected independent spirits houses. Founded in 1989, the company encompasses Ferrand Cognac, Citadelle Gin, Planteray Rum and Ferrand Dry Curaçao, alongside historic distilleries across Barbados and Jamaica.
“We’re building it for the next hundred years.” The phrase surfaces repeatedly.
We discuss hurricane-proofing historic distilleries, preserving eighteenth-century stills and replanting forgotten grape varieties and throughout, Alexandre thinks in generations rather than quarters. The idea of tradition permeates our every thread but the concept, Alexandre says, is oft misunderstood.
“Some people think tradition is what they were taught when they were 20 years old. That’s not tradition. Tradition is ever-changing. It’s a continuation.”
Alexandre Gabriel, Owner & Master Blender, Maison Ferrand
It is an idea that sits at the heart of Maison Ferrand’s success. Much of what appears innovative in the company’s portfolio is, in fact, inspired by techniques unearthed from centuries-old archives. Alexandre has spent decades perusing dusty tomes and lost recipes – and has even written a couple of his own in the process.
His “Renegade Barrel” series explores ageing cognac in woods such as chestnut and acacia, materials once common in the region but largely abandoned by modern producers. To Gabriel, this is not experimentation for its own sake.
“We’re innovating from tradition.”
That philosophy extends well beyond cognac. During the interview he describes discovering Caribbean rum production as a young distiller and encountering a radically different approach to fermentation.
“My grandfather taught me, ‘Yeast is your friend. Bacteria are your enemy.’”
In Barbados and Jamaica, however, bacteria were deliberately cultivated to create flavour. Alexandre embraced these ideas that, back in his home of Cognac, were sacrilege. The experience transformed his understanding of spirits production and reinforced a belief that learning often occurs outside the comfort zone. Or as he puts it:
“We are kids with a deck of Pokémon cards. Go meet them and swap Pokémon cards. You’ll come back with a better deck.”
Alexandre speaks frequently about bartenders, distillers, historians and craftspeople being a part of an ecosystem; cycles and contrasts and reoccurring motifs. Knowledge, in his world, is not something to hoard but something to exchange.
“Spirits is the last form of folk art.”
He pauses as he explains the thought. Unlike many forms of culture that have become globalised and homogenised, spirits remain rooted in place. Cognac still tastes of Cognac. Jamaican rum still tastes of Jamaica. The traditions, ingredients and communities that shape them remain local and wide-spreading at the same time. It is culture epitomised.
That sense of community runs through everything Maison Ferrand does. Employees are discussed with genuine affection, like family. Even acquisitions are framed less as commercial opportunities than as chances to preserve jobs and expertise.
“If there’s a problem with one Ferrand somewhere at the end of the world, another Ferrand will be there for him or her.”
The last form of folk art is a bold statement, but with the internet homogenising most art forms, the ones that are anchored to the real world – craft, namely – embody what folk is all about. It’s people sharing experience face to face, and all the little accidents that happen out in the field that allows for culture to evolve.
Historian, farmer, master blender Alexandre Gabriel seems far more interested in preserving culture than chasing trends. The result is a company that treats heritage as something that reaches out of the display cabinet glass; something living, evolving and part of the present. Meeting him shed a whole new light on cognac. It’s an ever-evolving expression of geography, much like any other spirit. And Alexandre is charting a bright future ahead for it.
