The Carrère distillery was founded by the Dolomie family in 1930 in Petit-Bourg, in the east of Guadeloupe. It is best known for its rum, Montebello, which is named after the area where the distillery is located. WWII was a difficult period for the distillery and it was bought in 1966 by Jean Marsolle—whose brother Henri already owned the Séverin distillery—and his son. Under this new direction, the distillery prospered and increased its production capacity, despite using the same equipment, such as the steam engine that powered the cane mills. The cane is harvested by hand in the volcanic regions of Petit-Bourg, Goyave, Basse-Terre, Lamentin and Sainte-Rose.

Basseterre 1997 is a rum produced at the Carrère distillery in Guadeloupe and bottled in 2008 by Velier. Velier was founded in Genoa by Casimir Chaix in 1947. It was originally a small, family-run business specializing in the import and distribution of wine and spirits. Luca Gargano, a former representative for Saint James and serious rum collector and enthusiast, bought the business in 1986 and began bottling whisky first in 1992 and then rum in 1996. Rums selected by Velier are only ever aged in a tropical climate, which explains both their concentration and the high angels’’ share. They are generally bottled at cask strength or just below. The company’’s selections from Diamond’’s vaults as well as the Caroni bottlings and the bottlings from various distilleries in Jamaica, Barbados and other countries have played a key role in rum’’s history and are today some of the most sought-after in the category.