The conquest of the New World imposed the barrel for the transport of liquid goods. It was also probably during the long crossings of the Atlantic that the benefit of aging spirits in barrels appeared when European merchants noticed that the rum, translucent on departure from the Caribbean, had acquired on arrival on the Old Continent a golden color and a rounder and softer texture. The phenomenon of maturation then became essential in the popularization of rum until then considered a coarse rotgut. It consists of resting white rum for a more or less prolonged time in oak barrels, an essence rich in water-soluble tannins. Since rum does not adapt well to the powerful tannins diffused by new barrels, the old agricultural rum of Habitation Clément in Martinique comes from a blend of rums aged for a minimum of three years in oak barrels of 200 liters (53 gals) by alternating new and older barrels.