KANON - Spiced Rum

Introduced to the basics of sailing at a very young age, Jacques Kanon built his reputation with cannon fire, leaving a large number of enemy vessels disabled in his wake. His composure, audacity, and leadership qualities helped instill courage in his crews. A talented navigator, he distinguished himself on the world's seas as a privateer, then as a French naval officer. But it was truly in 1759 during the Siege of Quebec that Jacques Kanon would cement his legend. The frigate lieutenant was chosen to command a fleet tasked with resupplying New France. If a year earlier, he had managed to slip through the British blockade, the French crown hoped that Kanon could repeat this feat. Departing from Bordeaux, Kanon, at the helm of the Machault, escorted some fifteen boats toward Quebec. His crossing took place without incident. Evading the enemy blockade for the second time, he dropped anchor off Quebec City on May 18, 1759. Although Kanon's efforts failed to change the course of the war, he will be remembered as a key figure in one of the major episodes of the War of the Conquest in Canada, pitting the British against the French. After the fall of Quebec City in the fall of 1759, Kanon was ordered to lead about ten ships to France. A fleet that would number only three upon his arrival in Brest. Alongside his career as a sailor, he owned a winery and a sugarcane plantation. While a street in Lévis bears his name, it is now the turn of the Mitis Distillery to pay tribute to him with its new Kanon rum. It's a cannon shot in every glass, minus the smell of gunpowder.

You might see something resembling a pirate flag on the KANON logo, since Jacques KANON was a privateer, who could be called a pirate "working" for a king. However, this design is actually an image made with sweet clover, a Quebec spice used in the KANON rum recipe. The inspiration comes from Brother Marie Victorin's herbarium, where you can see the sweet clover flower, drawn by Brother Alexandre Blouin, which resembles a skull. The addition of two diagonal stems gives a result very close to the flag of these sea scum.