Earthquake hits Haiti, Barbancourt is (almost) safe:

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Everybody saw de devastating ravage that the earthquake created on Tuesday 12 January 2010 in Haiti. We hope the country will be normal again ASAP.

My Rum friends had contact with people at Barbancourt a few days later. Hank Tester reports from Haiti that Barbancourt has suffered minor damage at their distillery and aging warehouses from the recent earthquake activities. There is plenty of aged rum to continue operations, although it's a struggle for employees who have been adversely affected to come to work. The company believes they have enough stock to remain viable for some time while they work hard to get their operations restored to full capacity soon. At the present time, there is plenty of Barbancourt Rhum in the United States and no shortage is anticipated.

Dave Broom reported that he spoke to company’s Director General Thierry Gardère the other day. Thierry is safe and well, but lost his house. Thierry is the 4th generation in the family-company, which started in 1862. Until 2010 Barbancourt has gone from strength to strength despite recent insecurity in the country. Barbancourt is recognised by drinks magazines as one of the best five rums in the world.

UPDATE:

A few days later it appeared that the plant in the capital city Port-au-Prince suffered extensive damage. Alain Duret, the company’s human resources director said that it seems that an entire exterior wall of the distillery was knocked down, equipment was damaged and barrels of ageing rum were destroyed. Lucky enough the group had shipped stock to its distributor in New York 24 hours before the earthquake struck.

Duret warned that production will not be resumed for at least a month. He said:

“Everything is uncertain, hopefully in a week or so we will have a better idea of the extent of the damage”

Duret confirmed that two employees have died and about 20% of the 430 staff lost their homes during the earthquake.

If more comes up, I will report it here.

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