part 5 of a sojourn through paris with rum

From Excellence Rhum to Bar 1802: A Parisian Rum Odyssey

I stepped outside of Excellence Rhum and enjoyed the sun's evening glow as it bathed the streets of Paris. I had a mile and a half to walk to Bar 1802 in the Latin Quarter, where I would meet my sister for a cocktail. Like Dirty Dick, Bar 1802 serves only rum. It is on the same excellent spectrum as Dirty Dick but at the fancier end.

Walking the Streets of History: Treaty of Paris to Hausmann's Paris

Not far from where I stood, the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, ending the American Revolution. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay walked these very streets. Two blocks on, the ancient atmosphere faded away as I stepped toward Boulevard Saint-Jermain and noticed the signature aesthetic of Paris, the Hausmann buildings. Paris has a very tight architectural uniformity spread throughout most of the city. That began on this street in 1853 when Napoleon III commissioned Georges-Eugene Hausmann to renovate Paris. The American jazz of New Orleans found a receptive audience in this neighborhood going back to 1918. Paris’s fabled cafés were born here. Les Deux Magots, the most famous of all, attracted the likes of black American writer James Baldwin, who would spend hours there writing and socializing.

“It is perfectly possible to be enamored of Paris while remaining totally indifferent or even hostile to the French,” Baldwin wrote. I would understand what he meant by this as the evening progressed.

I passed the Luxembourg Gardens and spied the Pantheon from Rue Soufflot. The Pantheon is the final resting place for some of France’s most celebrated people. Six of the 81 honored here (75 men and six women) are of African heritage. Alexander Dumas, the inspiration behind the bar I will see, is one of those six. Dumas was one of France’s most successful novelists of the 19th century, penning classics including The Count of Monte Christo and The Three Musketeers. His body was exhumed and moved there 132 years after his death. Josephine Baker, the American dancer who made Paris her home, was memorialized here with a plaque 46 years after her death. The leader of the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint Louverture, was honored with a plaque 196 years after his death. Napoleon is not here. His body was delicately repatriated to Paris 19 years after he died in British custody on the remote island of St. Helena. He lies in a grander shrine at the Hôtel des Invalides across from the Place de la Concorde.

The Latin Quarter: Where Paris Breaks its Architectural Mold

As I entered the Latin Quarter, the academic and intellectual hub of Paris, the monotonous beauty of the Hausmann buildings stopped; I was in the one section of Paris that the heavy hand of Hausmann did not alter. Instead, there were tight tree-lined streets and more antiquated buildings housing stylish shops and bistros. Bar 1802 is located at 22 rue Pascal on the ground floor of Hotel Monte Cristo with its plant-draped façade.

Bar 1802: A Shrine to Rum and Aroma

Entering the bar just off the lobby and facing the street, I felt a calm and welcoming atmosphere. The interior was nostalgic, with dark wood paneling, vintage tropical decor, and dim lighting, creating a cozy and intimate vibe. Bright glass shelves showcased an impressive collection of rum bottles from around the world. I sat at the bar, waiting for my sister.

As the bartender approached, my sister arrived, and I asked for the cocktail menu. He smiled and pointed to an old-fashioned globe behind us. It held a hidden treasure and the key to their unique drinks. The bartender opened the globe, revealing nine small dishes containing dried fruits and leaves. He explained that they crafted drinks based on aroma. We just had to choose our preferences, and they would create a custom cocktail for us. The dishes held banana, pear, coffee, bay leaf, walnut, tobacco, honey, coconut, and citrus.

After some thought, I picked banana, and my sister went with pear. The bartender skillfully mixed our drinks, blending flavors with spirits. My cocktail combined unaged Jamaican rum and house-made banana syrup, creating a sublime sweet taste. My sister's drink, infused with pear, had a pale green color and creamy texture. Its base was Japanese shochu, which was distilled from sugarcane and rice and offered a subtle pear essence. Ready to explore more, for my second cocktail, I went with citrus. As I suspected, the bartender made a daiquiri using two distinct rums – Martinique's Grande Arome, Latitude 14,717554, and Reunion's Grande Arome, Savanah Lonton 57. Mixed with bitters, this twist on the classic was a delightful combination of flavors that satisfied me. Grande Arome is a high-ester rum made from molasses and associated with French islands. As the price suggested, I can’t say the daiquiri was two times better than Dirty Dick’s, but I was happy to pay to sit in this space.

The bartender shared his deep knowledge and passion for rum as we enjoyed the well-crafted drinks. He generously let us sample different rums that intrigued us, showing that Bar 1802's creators weren't just collecting rums for display but were true enthusiasts and experts ready to inform us about their nuances.

Creating a space dedicated solely to rum is no small feat. Bar 1802 impeccably combines a passionate dedication to the spirit with a decor and ambiance that evoke the colonial Caribbean. We are in an era where nostalgia can be dismissed as an endorsement of historical wrongs. Disneyland has received criticisms for its beloved Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which starts on the bayous of Louisiana, serenading riders with banjo picking as they float through the starry antebellum South before entering Jack Sparrow’s 17th-century pirate playland. The creators of 1802 are aware of the aesthetic they have created and are not trying to romanticize the time of slavery; they are depicting what such a salon may have looked like in the days of Dumas.

The Legacy of Alexandre Dumas: A Tale of Rum and Revolution

The author, born in 1802, is perhaps the most famous French person of African-West Indian dissent. His slave-born father inspired the writer and was the inspiration behind The Count of Monte Cristo. Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was born in Saint Dominique (Haiti) 1762. His mother, Marie-Cessette Dumas, was enslaved by his father, Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a white French aristocrat. The French family operated from a small island called Monte Christo, now part of the Dominican Republic. When Thomas-Alexandre was 14, his father arranged for him to be freed and moved to France to live with him. His mother and sisters were left in Saint-Dominique and sold.

Thomas-Alexandre received the education and social entry of a French nobleman. At age 22, he joined the French army, which was typical for the upper class. He would become the first black general in French history. He would play essential roles in the French Revolution and help Napoleon conquer Europe from the Netherlands to Italy and even into Africa with his capture of Cairo in Egypt. His name is inscribed on the 23rd column of the Arc de Triomphe, commemorating his roles in Napoleon’s victories.

Thomas-Alexandre’s life mirrored the arc of the French Revolution; it started messy, got pretty good, and ended messily. For a moment, it seemed race might not play a role in post-revolution France when slavery was abolished, and men such as General Dumas rose to the highest levels of society and the military. Napoléon admired him as a military strategist but grew disillusioned with him when Dumas questioned some of Napoleon's orders.

When Napoleon and Dumas approached the Egyptians for diplomacy, they wrongly assumed the tall, dark, and handsome one was in charge – uh oh. In 1799, when Dumas asked to leave Egypt and return to France, Napoleon permitted, but Dumas was conveniently captured and held prisoner in Naples for two years. That same year, Napoleon returned to Paris and seized power. In 1802, Napoleon would officially reinstate slavery in the colonies. When General Dumas was released and returned to France as a sick man, Napoleon refused to give him a pension to which generals and their widows were entitled. The self-anointed Emperor of France actively obscured the legacy of Dumas, whom he may have feared as a rival.

When the general died in 1806, Alexander Dumas, age 3, his mother, and his sister lived in deep poverty. The widow, Marie-Louise, and the young Alexandre blamed Napoleon's "implacable hatred" of their father for their situation. Though they did not have money, his father’s notoriety and social background would benefit young Dumas’ career. By age twenty, he would be employed by the Duke of Orleans, Louis-Philippe Orléans, who had known the general. The duke would become the King of France and help Dumas’ writing career by gaining him access to literary circles and the court's inner workings. Much of Dumas’ romantic and swashbuckling writing was based on the real-life events of this father.

Today, there is no statue of General Dumas in a city with statues of people on nearly every street. In 1913, his statue was erected more than a century after his death. The statue was placed near statues of his son and grandson (also a writer) erected in 1883 and 1906. However, during the Nazi occupation of Paris, the Germans instructed the French Vichy government to remove the statue and melt it for ammunition in 1941. A sculpture paying tribute to him reemerged in 2009 within the same park as the other two Dumas statues. This sculpture portrays large-scale broken shackles and chains, symbolizing the plight of an enslaved person. This depiction holds a poetic justice, although the man it honors considered his allegiance to France and the Revolution unwavering. Would he find this a fitting memorial? It’s a powerful sculpture, but it does not suitably honor one of France’s great Patriots.

Bar 1802: More Than Just a Year, It's a Conversation Starter

Unlike the practical Dirty Dick, Bar 1802 stands like a shrine to rum. And while you may wrongly think it is paying homage to an era of cruelty and injustice, it is the opposite. What does 1802 mean? It was the year author Alexandre Dumas was born. It was the year Napoleon reinstated slavery. It was the year France invaded Haiti and tried to regain control. It was the year the black Haitian General Toussaint Louverture was imprisoned in France. It is a jumping-off point for a discussion with a cocktail in your hand.

Author Owen Hyland founded Faraday West Indies Rum and lives in New Hampshire.

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Liberty, Equality, and Rum: Bar 1802 in Paris Hotel Monte Christo