RUM CLAIRIN - Le Rocher 2022 - 50%
Clairins are the rums of Haiti , where there are 532 small artisanal distilleries scattered across the only Caribbean island that rebelled against slavery in 1804. Today, Haiti is one of the few countries to maintain purist traditions ; with its native varieties of unhybridized sugar cane, its cultivation without chemicals, its spontaneous fermentation without yeasts and its archaic unfiltered distillation.
Sugarcane is grown in co-plantation with other plant species such as banana and mango and is left without intervention until harvest, which takes place 18 months after planting. Harvesting is done by hand, cutting with a cutlass (cane knife) and transport to the distillery is done with carts pulled by oxen. During harvesting, the cut canes are transported by hand to the mill. There, they are inserted between the rollers and pressed. The juice flows into a stone container and while another worker collects the juices on the other side of the mill, a human chain transports the pressed canes to a drying area. According to the rules to obtain the "Triple A" designation, the protocol must be as follows: fermentation lasts at least 120 hours and distillation takes place in a maximum of 5 stills with copper plates in direct contact with the flame. Then the rum must be bottled as soon as it comes out of the still and the bottling takes place in Haiti.
Clairin Le Rocher is produced in Pignon, at the entrance to the Saint Michel de l'Attalaye plateau. It is made from cane syrup from natural juice, and by adding about 30% of the vinasse from previous distillations during fermentation. This method is based on the production method of the French colonies, influenced from 1785 by the "dunder style" technique developed by the English in Jamaica.