Velier Arawaks Clairin Vaval Ansyen 41 Months (The Last Port) 2019

This Vaval Ansyen is an aged clairin from Velier's Haitian range, drawn from the Arawaks distillery and distilled from fresh sugar-cane juice. Clairin is Haiti's village cane-juice rum, made with wild, spontaneous fermentation from heirloom cane, agricole in spirit but unable to use the word, and known for turbo-charged funk. This single cask spends 41 months in a port cask, the final one of the run, and is bottled unsweetened at cask strength.

The wild ferment gives a deeply rustic, vegetal spirit, and the port cask rounds it without burying the soul. The nose carries grass, sugarcane, citrus and a cognac-like lift, the palate turns floral, fruity and grassy over the cane, and the finish stays fresh with grass and cherry. A natural honeyed sweetness and menthol coolness run through it, alongside green vegetal and tomato notes. At 54.6% it is intense and characterful, a bold next step for anyone already drawn to clairin's rustic, vegetal soul.