Why Plantation Rum Became Planteray | Alexandre Gabriel on Rum, Risk & Reinvention

What does it take to spend nearly four decades making spirits differently — and to be willing to risk what you've built when you believe something needs to change?

Recorded at Tales of the Cocktail 2026 in New Orleans, Damian sits down with Alexandre Gabriel, the master blender and driving force behind Maison Ferrand, Planteray Rum and Citadelle Gin, for a conversation about spirits, history, leadership and the enduring importance of bars.

Alexandre traces his philosophy back to growing up on a small farm in France, where work, community and responsibility were inseparable. It's an outlook that still shapes Maison Ferrand today: surround yourself with great people, reinvest in what you're creating, and don't make something unless you have something worthwhile to say.

He discusses the origins of Citadelle Gin, his journey from Cognac into rum, and how discovering Caribbean fermentation techniques challenged many of the ideas he'd grown up with in French wine country.

At the heart of the episode is the story of Plantation Rum becoming Planteray Rum.

Alexandre speaks candidly about recognising that a name he originally associated with farming carried a very different historical meaning for others. He explains the conversations in Barbados that helped drive the decision, disagreement within the team, the commercial risks involved, and why he ultimately believed changing the name was the right thing to do.

It's a revealing discussion about leadership, responsibility and what happens when doing what you believe in also means taking a significant business risk.

The conversation then moves beyond spirits altogether.

Alexandre believes bars and bartenders have an increasingly important social role in a world where people are spending more time behind screens and less time connecting face-to-face.

For him, the distiller makes the instrument. The bartender plays the music.

And sometimes the most important thing a drink can do is simply give people a reason to sit together.

In this episode:Alexandre Gabriel's 37-year journey through the spirits industryHow growing up on a French farm shaped his approach to business and leadershipBuilding the long-standing team behind Maison FerrandThe creation of Citadelle GinAlexandre's journey from Cognac into Caribbean rumFermentation, yeast and why rum challenged what he'd learned in wine countryThe origins of Planteray's approach to double ageingUsing historical research and traditional techniques to inspire new spiritsWhy Plantation Rum became Planteray RumThe difficult conversations in Barbados behind the decisionThe commercial risk involved in changing an established global brandWhat the name Planteray represents todayRestoring historic distilling equipment in BarbadosWhy agriculture remains at the heart of Alexandre's approach to spiritsWhy bars and bartenders matter in an increasingly disconnected worldAlexandre's belief that distillers make the instruments — and bartenders play the music