J Bally

The story of J. Bally starts in 1917 when Jacques Bally purchased a small sugar refinery and water mill which was built in the early 1600s. Bally then transformed the refinery into a distillery. Having a strong engineering background, he was able to build a new distillation creole column himself and also install a steam engine to power everything.     

In 1924, Bally methodically put all of his efforts into the maturation of his rums. In the years between the 1950s and 1960s, the vintage rum of J. Bally earned the reputation of being one of the best rhum agricole in the world.

Bally invented the famous pyramid-shaped bottle in collaboration with Saint-Gobain in the 1930s. This bottle became a signature of the brand and made J. Bally popular around the world.

In 1976, Bally rum production took place at Saint James in the creole column Still, yet part of the ageing was still carried out in Bally cellars. Remy Cointreau took control of J. Bally in 1996. The whole production was completely moved to Saint James distillery. However, the original methods developed by Jacques Bally have remained the same.