Velier Casimir Clairin 2018

Clairin Casimir is the village rum of Faubert Casimir in Barraderes, Haiti, one of the small producers brought to a wider audience by the Italian house Velier. Clairin is agricole in spirit but cannot legally use the word: it is made from fresh-pressed sugar cane, fermented wild with native yeast and no additives, then distilled in a small pot still. The result is one of the rawest, most terroir-driven expressions of cane there is.

Bottled unsweetened at a full 53.3%, this is turbo-charged cane character rather than anything soft or sweet. The nose is fresh and grassy with sugarcane and herbs, the palate brings green olive, mango and yellow fruit, citrus and a vegetal, savoury core, and the finish turns salty, minty and faintly medicinal. It is wild and divisive in the best way, a little more perfumed and delicate than some of its siblings while keeping the funk. A pour for curious drinkers who like high-proof, characterful agricole and clairin, superb in a Ti Punch or Daiquiri and bracing neat.