Distillery

Saint James

Saint-James is Martinique's biggest distillery and one of the oldest names in bottled rum, founded in 1765 and still selling a square bottle it trademarked in 1882. It holds the largest stock of aged rhum in the French Antilles, runs what may be the world's best distillation museum, and its old vintages and J. Bally bottlings are among the most loved Martinique rums on RumX.

  • Heritage agricole dating to 1765
  • Cult Les Éphémères vintage series
  • Cask-strength Brut de Fût highly rated
Loved by Joachim Guger, alex, cigares & over 2,400 more

RumX market intelligence

As of July 2026

Community score
8.1/10
ratings
4,748
bottles catalogued
255
available to buy now
112

Find your rum

Tap a filter and we'll show you the matching bottles below.

RumX Guide

An English name for a French rum

Read the full guide

Top-rated rums from Saint James

Ranked by community score, available bottles first.

Community Compass

For each category the community shows you its favourite: top rated across 300,000 reviews and available right now.

Browse all rums from Saint James

Explore our complete collection. Filter by price, rating, distillery, age, and more to find your perfect rum.

Filters

Sort by

Filters

Price (€)

Custom range
Availability

Real market price drops instead of discount labels: RumX monitors 40+ shops around the clock. A drop only counts when the price falls below the previously lowest market price (at least −5%) — we never show shops' own strike-through prices.

Rating

Taste & style

Character
Only rums with a clear character profile
Intensity
For cocktails and mixing: quick filters above the results

Origin

Measured or declared by the producer
Community classified, covers part of the catalog
No bottles from Saint James are in stock right now. You're browsing the full archive. Set a price alert

No rums found matching your criteria

Try adjusting your search criteria or clearing some filters.

Best value from Saint James

Highest community ratings for the price, from live offers.

Community purchases

7,954 bottles from Saint James bought by the community.

+105 purchases in the last 3 months.

Added to collections, last 12 months — dark bars are the last 3.

as of

RumX Community

Community reviews: Saint James

Saint James 10 ans (Cuvée Transat) 2015

Review by Eric Frechin

Eric Frechin
Eric Frechin
May 2026261 reviewsFrance
8.2/10

Gouté au rhumfest Paris 2026, en fin de journée. Bon représentant de la marque, le rapport qualité/prix est bien. Je le préfère largement au 9 et 12 ans car je le trouve plus rond. Le boisé est au top.

Auto-translated 20 found this helpful
Saint James Single Cask 2003

Review by crazyforgoodbooze

crazyforgoodbooze
crazyforgoodbooze
Oct 20252,468 reviewsGermany
8.6/10

Very delicious 2003 vintage agricole. Very elegant, oily, and heavy. Pleasant sweetness, intense cocoa, cherry, and allspice notes. Not too woody, not too dry. I really like it. Perfect easy sipper!

Auto-translated 17 found this helpful
Saint James Elegance (260th Anniversary)

Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰

Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
Oct 20255,556 reviewsDenmark
8.4/10

#5766 28.09.2025 Day two of the Whisky Live 2025, which this year looks better organized/arranged inside. This bottling was made for the 260th anniversary of Saint James and it's a very smooth easy drinkable rum. Light wood with good ABV integration, lots of fruit with spices …

21 found this helpful
Saint James Double Cask (Ex-Armagnac & Ex-Porto)

Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰

Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
Oct 20255,556 reviewsDenmark
8.0/10

#5766 28.09.2025 Day two of the Whisky Live 2025, which this year looks better organized/arranged inside. An exciting experiment in my mind and you can get a bit of the armagnac cask in the profile. Good ABV and wood integration with fruits and light chocolate and caramel.

20 found this helpful
Saint James J. Bally Art Déco #3 2003

Review by Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰

Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
Kevin Sorensen 🇩🇰
Sep 20255,556 reviewsDenmark
8.4/10

#5729 27.09.2025 Day one of the Whisky Live 2025, which this year looks better organized/arranged inside. Just like the two previous releases, this one is also very light and smooth with a lot of fruity notes as well as spices, floral and caramel.

22 found this helpful
Saint James 12 Ans Reservée Privée

Review by LukaŽiga

LukaŽiga
LukaŽiga
Feb 2025770 reviewsSlovenia
8.3/10

8,1:On the nose, well, a juicy, tangy maracuja. The spices are peppery, there are pink berries and coriander seeds, a burnt edge, quince paste, and acidic fruitiness. The sugar cane is juicy and vibrant. Aeration brings out plum with dark berries as blueberry and blackcurrant. …

Saint James XO Très Vieux Rhum Agricole

Review by TheJackDrop

TheJackDrop
TheJackDrop
Oct 2024898 reviewsFrance
8.2/10

"La pépite de la soirée ?! A balancer avec le 15. On est clairement sur autre chose. En resume, mes notes de degutation : Au nez : Boisé, Fruité, Canne à sucre En bouche : Boisé, Caramel, Épicé, Pruneaux La finale plutot orientee vers : Boisé, Caramel, Épicé"

Velier Saint James Alex Webb Edition (Magnum) 2010

Review by Jarek

Jarek
Jarek
Oct 2024680 reviewsGermany
8.0/10

Whisky Live Paris 2024 (trade fair evaluation, only overall rating and personal recommendation to buy): Can't excite me, just as little as the other three bottlings of the second magnum series. Still quite interesting on the nose, somehow restrained and watered down on the …

Auto-translated

The RumX Guide to Saint James

An English name for a French rum

Saint-James dates its founding to 1765, when a learned monk, Pere Lefebure, set up a sugar factory and rum distillery near Saint-Pierre. Because France banned rum imports, he gave it an English-sounding name, Saint-James, to sell into New England. In 1882 the Marseille trader Paulin Lambert trademarked the name and introduced the squat square bottle, which saved shipping space and cut breakage. The brand still uses it today, decades before Johnnie Walker or Cointreau made the shape famous.

From Saint-Pierre to Sainte-Marie

The 1902 eruption destroyed the original distillery, and for three decades Saint-James rum was made at other estates Lambert bought with the insurance money. A new distillery was built in 1929, and production moved permanently to Sainte-Marie on the northeast Atlantic coast in 1974. After bankruptcy in 1958, the brand passed through Picon and Cointreau before La Martiniquaise, which also owns Depaz and Dillon, took over in 2003.

Six columns, a pot still, and J. Bally

Saint-James is well armed: six creole columns plus two modern columns process up to a tonne of cane a minute during harvest, with column distillate around 73 percent. It also runs a batch still for its Coeur de Chauffe, the only pot-distilled rhum agricole on Martinique, which falls below the AOC's 65 percent rule and so sits outside the appellation. The distillery has made the J. Bally brand alongside its own since 1996, and uses some molasses in partnership with Le Galion.

The largest aged stock in the French Antilles

New rum goes into around 16,000 ex-bourbon and French-oak casks between 55 and 68 percent, and unlike Depaz, Saint-James does not consolidate same-age casks to slow the angel's share. The result is a staggering range, from five white expressions to many double-digit-age rhums. Two on-site museums tell the story, one of them described as probably the best distillation museum in the world, alongside a working cooperage. Rum-making is overseen by Marc Sassier, chairman of the Martinique AOC committee.

What the RumX community drinks

Saint-James is one of the most reviewed distilleries on the platform. The Saint James Les Ephemeres N1 has drawn over 200 ratings, while old J. Bally millesimes like the J. Bally Millesime 1999 reach 9.0/10, among the very best aged Martinique rums here. Because Saint-James releases so widely, from cane-juice agricole to indie single casks, there is a long ladder to climb.

How the crew scored it Saint James

RumX’s 0–10 scale is strict: 8.1 sits in the “Very good” band. 83% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 2% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →

Flavour profile of Saint James

Most frequently mentioned flavors

Aroma

Woody Vanilla Sugarcane Dried fruit

Taste

Woody Vanilla Sugarcane Dried fruit

Frequently Asked Questions about Saint James

La Martiniquaise (COFEPP), since 2003. The same group owns Depaz and the Dillon brand. Saint-James is the largest distillery on Martinique.

Paulin Lambert introduced and trademarked it in 1882 because it saved shipping space and reduced breakage. A court later ruled the shape was part of the brand’s identity. Saint-James pioneered it decades before other spirits made it iconic.

A pot-distilled rhum from fresh cane juice, bottled at 60 percent. It is the only pot-distilled rhum agricole on Martinique, and because it is distilled below the AOC’s 65 percent rule, it cannot be classified as AOC Martinique rhum agricole.

A heritage Martinique brand made at Saint-James since 1996. Old J. Bally millesimes are highly rated by the RumX community, with several reaching 9.0/10.

Start with a white agricole or the popular Les Ephemeres. For the highest community ratings, the old J. Bally and Saint-James millesimes lead the way.

RumX offers the world’s largest selection of rum through our innovative shop-in-shop marketplace, similar to Amazon. For Saint James rums, we currently have 304 offers starting from €15.50 across 28 partner shops including Rum & Co, Rum Piraten, Wein-Riegger, Whiskysite.nl, Perola, Slijterij & Wijnhuis Zeewijck. Our platform compares prices in real-time from specialized rum retailers worldwide, ensuring you always find the best deals.

The RumX database currently contains 255 different rums from Saint James. This includes various expressions, limited editions, and bottlings across different age statements and proof levels. Our community has contributed over 4748 reviews for Saint James rums, making it one of the most comprehensive resources for exploring this brand’s full range. New releases are added regularly as they become available.

According to the RumX community, Saint James J. Bally Millésime 1999 LMDW 1999 18yr 54,5% is currently the highest-rated Saint James rum with an impressive rating of 9.0/10 based on 79 reviews. This expression has earned praise for its exceptional quality and represents the pinnacle of what Saint James has to offer. However, taste is subjective, and we encourage you to explore the full range to find your personal favorite.
All Saint James discussions →
Price alerts · in the RumX app

Unlock the Full RumX Experience

Love rums from Saint James? The journey doesn't stop here. Download the RumX app to explore an even more extensive selection of rums from Saint James and around the world. With features like collection management, personalized recommendations, tasting notes, and a bustling community of rum enthusiasts, our free app offers the ultimate rum experience, right in your pocket.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play
★ 4.8/5 on App Store & Play Store

Rating guide

RumX's 0–10 scale is strict. Here's what each band means.

9.0–10.0 Excellent Stash as many as you can afford. Tell no one.
8.0–8.9 Very good Bank a backup. Tell everyone you meet.
7.0–7.9 Good Buy one and recommend it to your friends.
6.0–6.9 Pleasant Solid, super glad I drank it.
5.0–5.9 Average Totally acceptable.
4.0–4.9 Drinkable Not vocally complaining.
3.0–3.9 Poor Wish I was drinking something else.
2.0–2.9 Very poor Nothing nice to say.
1.0–1.9 Unpleasant No, that's not for me.
0.1–0.9 Inedible Pour it out.