To Haiti with love


October 9, 2016

To Haiti
with love

Because of hurricane Matthew, yet another disaster just struck Haiti, and while it’s cool to have fun with booze whenever we can, perhaps is it also time to show support and help the various organisations that are on and in the field. Come on, do you really need that very unlikely new bottle of GlenWonka NAS finished in German Schwarzbier casks? Of course not, rather donate there or elsewhere

Now, we could also taste a little clairin (or klerin) while thinking of Haiti…

Clairin ‘World Championship 2016’ (46%, Velier)

A bottle that celebrates a bartending competition that took place this year in France and then in Haiti. Not too sure it’s a ‘single’ clairin, maybe is it a blend of various great distilleries such as Vaval, Casimir or Sajous. I believe that’s what it is but should I gather more details, I’ll update this short post. Colour: white. Nose: purrfekt. Capers and olives, then engine oil and that strange dashboard polish we used to use in the 1980s in our cars (some used to call it spritz or car renovator). Also fermenting vegetables, perhaps turnips, some mustard, and not the slightest hint of a sweetness. Mouth: lime, oyster juice, raw liquorice, salsify, olives, and seawater. A rather rough spirit, but that’s what you would expect from a good clairin. And this is good clairin. Finish: long, with a feeling of salted limejuice. The bitterish vegetables keep singing in the aftertaste, but there’s also a sweetness (sugarcane syrup). Comments: no objections whatsoever, Your Honour! Oh and l’union fait la force! SGP:362 - 88 points.

A sparring partner, perhaps… Sadly, no Barbancourt at hand, and no other clairin… Oh, perhaps this?

Monte Negro ‘Grogue Original’ (42%, OB, grogue, Cape Verde, +/-2016)

Grogue is akin to clairin, so cane juice distilled in small pot stills, except that it’s made in Cabo Verde. It’s very popular locally, but rarely exported. This one’s made in Santiago, Colour: white. Nose: a little smoother, apparently, but not any less artisanal and ‘authentic’, with plenty of briny cane juice and these earthy, rooty, and vegetable-like tones. I’m also getting green bananas, while the whole tends to become gentler than the roaring clairin. Hints of baijiu. Mouth: excellent! Closer to the clairin, with added notes of cured ham, very salty olives, some kind of pickled roots (not ginger though), and freshly squeezed lemons, including zest oil. Finish: long, limy, earthy, drier than the clairin. And there are even more olives. Comments: the clairin was a little more, say immediate, but this is one bright cane spirit! Makes for a perfect cane-y triangle, cachaça, clairin, and grogue. Okay, add some of the French white agricoles if you need a rectangle instead, such as Neisson’s latest whites – more about those later. SGP:362 - 87 points.

Haiti, courage!