Clairin d’Haïti

This rhum is something else. Agricole as the French tradition would have it, it is still distilled in age old pot stills concentrating stronger flavors, that leaves it wanting of nothing, compared to its column distilled counterparts.

Through space and time…

There is a special feeling when you get to taste vintage spirits. This 1948 Montebello was one such experience. Flashbacks from an island hardly recovering from the impact of WWII… Like time traveling to a place you can be glad you never saw.

Why HSE hit it right on the head

Many commentators wonder about rum’s capacity to survive it’s hour in the sun. A lot could be said about the market trends and the rumhouses strategies to confirm their strides toward global expansion. Those strategies are largely embedded in their branding, surfing on the one hand on the historical image of rum, rooted in piracy and…

SpiRituals #1

There’s something to be said about having the right drink at the right time…

Euphoria

Euphoria : a feeling of happiness, well-being or elation… Caused by the realisation that that you are a witness or creator of magic…

RhumfestParis : when rum lovers meet ! 

There are few instances in which you have the opportunity to rub shoulders the people who make the rum world go round. Gloomy weather notwithstanding, the event was well worth the trip… A quick overview of the few I got a chance to meet with and here is to many more encounters!!

The First Rumantic

Before anything JM speaks of tradition. If you were lucky enough to be raised, like I was, on the shores of Martinique, that is one association that is by no means artificial…

My nose, your friend

Often I like to make the selection of a rum for a friend, a party trick. Figuring out their likes and dislikes, remembering details of a tastings that would make the experience pleasuring to them and walking them through it.

Sugar blooms

  It is that time of the year again. Sugar blooms by the thousands swaying in the wind promise a bountiful harvest. Soon, the scent of burnt molasses will fill the air and I will remember to breathe…