The team

5 enthusiasts at your service: Olivier, Nico, Yoann, Florian and Florian!

Olivier

Olivier is the site's founder.

"I first became interested in spirits when I worked for the Pernod Ricard group, particularly in the UK, where I was in daily contact with the Aberlour distillery (a single malt quite widely distributed in France), Glennalachie (from which Clan Campbell mainly comes) both located in Speyside, and Edradour (at the time the smallest distillery in Scotland, in the Highlands).

Beyond the final product, my job as a management controller led me to take an interest in the entire manufacturing process. The Scots' passion for whisky was infectious. When I returned to France 2 1/2 years later, I couldn't forget the experience!

After more than 10 years in a completely different sector, where I learned a great deal about the importance of customer service, I recently decided to reconcile my desire for entrepreneurship with my pronounced taste for spirits by creating this site dedicated 100% to rum.

My favorite rums? Clairins from Haiti, some Martinique agricoles(Neisson, old Saint James vintages, some old HSEs), Guadeloupe agricoles(Longueteau), old rums from the Foursquare distillery (Barbados), the grand arôme aged in damp cellars from Savanna, O Reizinho agricole rum (but I'm not being completely objective, since we launched the marketing of this rum in France)... I'm forgetting plenty, because I'm actually a pretty good listener and I like most of the rums."

Nico

Nico has been writing tasting notes and blog posts for years, and hosting interviews on our YouTube channel.

"I really began to take an interest in rum in the early 2000s during trips to Martinique. Enthralled by visits to distilleries such as JM 's (I still have fond memories of the trip down to Fonds-Préville, the free tour and the informal tasting with the distillery staff), I discovered top-flight spirits, craftsmen and fascinating stories.

For several years, I modestly collected Martinique rums, trying to collect everything I could find in mainland France. It was quite an arduous task, as connoisseurs and wine merchants were rarer than they are now, or at least less connected. It wasn't until the early 2010s that I found more than a wine connoisseur: a specialist! While I had been concentrating solely on Martinique rums, I had already tasted a Guadeloupe rum. What a revolution! And as if I hadn't gone far enough in my revolution, I tasted South American molasses rums. I discovered the existence of this little country called Guyana (although I'm not too bad at geography) and some time later I tasted a black bottle with austere labels and an extravagant price (by my standards at the time, if I'd known...). It was this Enmore 1995 that lost me for good, the first sip blew me away.

Since then, I've been able to reproduce this sensation from time to time, thanks to rums from all over the world. My passion for what has become more than a drink for me has only grown, and has led me to take an interest in its manufacture, history and all that goes with it. It has also aroused a great deal of curiosity, because as you discover the infinite range of rums, you inevitably want to taste them all, compare them and form your own culture. I recently decided to share my research and discoveries with my blog Cœur de chauffe. This blog allowed me to meet Olivier and here I am!"

Yoann

Yoann is in charge of customer service. Based in Le Mans next to our warehouse, he is in close contact with the logistics team and visits the site several times a week to take photos of bottles, check stocks and improve logistics processes.

"I joined the Rhum Attitude adventure in August 2022. Having been a rum enthusiast for a few years and present on instagram behind the RhumAndFruit account, I had in mind to try a professional reconversion. I trained as an automotive engineer, but the change of direction in this field prompted me to take the plunge sooner than expected.

My favorite rums are pure cane juice rums like Neisson 52.5 or HSE single cask 2006. I also enjoy Grogues from Cape Verde and Clairins from Haiti. As a Ti-punch enthusiast, I love discovering new white rums. I make punches for my friends' parties, and home-arranged rums that I like to offer to my friends and family."

Florian (Perolini)

Florian is in charge of our Brussels boutique.

"After a 10-year career as an editor/cameraman in the documentary and corporate fields, I became fascinated with sommellerie while working on a wine report. I discovered whiskies when I met a Japanese woman who introduced me to Japanese whiskies. The passion was born! The world of wine made way for whisky. I taught myself by reading various books and magazines, tasting at various spirits festivals and buying lots of bottles. I also made many trips to Japan, where I bought a few casks from various distilleries. Rums appeared to me at almost the same time. A beautiful love story was born with these beverages. Running a specialized boutique was therefore an obvious choice, and a joy to be able to swim in my passion."

Florian (Prost)

Florian welcomes and advises our customers at the Brussels boutique, and develops local partnerships.

"After graduating from the Ferrandi grande école hôtelière in Paris and taking specific courses in oenology, I worked in a number of gourmet and Michelin-starred restaurants, in Paris (Alain Ducasse in particular), London, Australia and Brussels. I've also worked as a maître d'hôtel for the French Embassy in Brussels, and I've gradually developed my passion for spirits through my training and professional experience, as well as in my spare time as a hobby.

My favorite rums: Le Vieux par Neisson, Bielle Premium Ambré and Foursquare 2009!"

And let's not forget the old-timers who have moved on to new horizons.

Laurent, Thomas and François have all contributed to the success of Rhum Attitude, and we'd like to thank them all!

Laurent

Laurent was very active in the early days of Rhum Attitude. He has remained a friend of the site and a rum enthusiast, more than ever.

"If my passion for rum is recent [well not so recent as this text was written in 2015 ed. note], it's also very intense. To see for yourself, just visit my blog l'homme à la poussette.

I had been looking for some time to "professionalize" my business. And when Freddy (from the A'Rhum boutique, where I spent a good part of my free time) told me about Olivier and his website, I contacted him straight away. His project corresponded exactly to what I was looking for: to pass on my passion for rum by hosting tasting sessions and giving advice to Internet users according to their tastes.

For example, Olivier and I have been working on a small project that required a little computer development time: the possibility of suggesting other rums to someone who likes a particular rum, in a way that makes sense, that are close to it but still sufficiently different for them to enjoy the discovery aspect without risking possible disappointment. See, for example, Ferroni Rosé Rhum Blend.

Olivier immediately put me at ease: I would never have to "promote" a product I didn't really like. Indeed, it was important to make this clear from the outset: my 2 activities (my blog and the rhumattitude.com website) had to be compatible. There's no way I'm going to praise a rum on a website that I've said bad things about the day before on my blog!
So when I write a tasting note, I try to be as objective as possible, then if I particularly liked the rum, I give my opinion at the end, "in quotation marks", since it's my own opinion.
As far as rum is concerned, all tastes are permitted: to convince myself of this, all I have to do is note the extent to which my sensibilities have evolved since the beginning!"

Thomas

"It all started when I was studying in the 2000s. A few of my classmates and I would occasionally go to the supermarket to buy a good bottle of whisky and enjoy it together.

A little later, I frequented a wine merchant who introduced me to 2 whiskies that still mean a lot to me today: Jura Prophecy and Impérial 1982 Signatory Vintage. A milestone was reached (in terms of quality but also in terms of budget...) and I got closer to other whisky lovers through the Whisky and Distilleries forum. It was on this forum that I met Alexandre, with whom I founded the Whisky & Co website (soon to be renamed whispi.fr as interest gradually broadened to include all spirits, including rum).

Then I co-created two whisky clubs (one in Lyon and the other in Chambéry), and joined the big Quebec site La Centrale Scotch Whisky to be their French correspondent.

It was through word of mouth (the community of brandy enthusiasts isn't that big) that I met Olivier and Nico, who suggested I join the Rhum Attitude team to develop the other spirits(whisky, gin, tequila, mezcal, cognac...). I was thus able to bring them my experience to build up an initial list of the best value for money in these areas. I also wrote a few in-depth articles (an introduction to whisky, for example, or an overview of Irish whiskey), numerous articles on distilleries and brands, and tasting notes of course!

In September 2018, Alexandre, who in the meantime had opened the Les Grands Alambics winery in Chambéry, asked me to join him to do the work of a wine merchant: advise customers, run tasting workshops...

That's how I got the chance to turn my passion into a job, which I do every day at the Les Grands Alambics winery and at Rhum Attitude!"

François

"I've been a rum enthusiast and collector for a long time. After working as a bartender and cellarman in prestigious establishments, I joined Rhum Attitude in early 2021 to take charge of customer service, but also to help the team set up new services. I left Rhum Attitude 1 year later to devote myself 100%, still in relation with Olivier, to a brand new website project also centered on rum..."