The Haitian Terroir in a Bottle: Discovering the Exceptional Rum Clairin Sajous from Chelo Distillery
The Clairin Sajous rum from the Chelo distillery is one of those rums that puts you at peace with the world: it is an exceptional, true, elegant, and explosive product, but above all, it is a real mirror of the Haitian terroir.
Terroir is never talked about in distillates, which is a shame because there are products that represent a place and a way of making things by hand that should be bought, tried, and supported.
Velier selected and put this rum in bottles after having it made by a microdistillery. It is not an easy-to-find or widely distributed rum, but a hidden gem that a very brave distributor found.
It’s clear that it’s an agricultural rum, since it’s made from sugar cane without any chemical yeasts and only the yeasts that grow naturally in the area.
The process of making it is also done by hand: after the cane juice has been boiled, it is put into copper stills and distilled twice in a row.
It is then put into bottles.
Although it is confusing and semantically incorrect, we could say that it is a natural rum, that is, produced in the most natural way possible. The sugar cane is of the Cristal variety, and obviously we start with virgin juice since the sugar is not extracted.
And this is what immediately jumps to the nose and the palate: the aromatic ambition of this agricultural rum, its thousand flavors that open up like a rainbow of taste, sometimes even exuberance, but it is a naked product; it was not shaped or folded into a stylization but was left free to express itself.
The bouquet
A complex nose full of references: it’s a show. Lots of tropical fruit, peaches in syrup, pepper and chilli, mint intertwined with chocolate, coffee, and ripe notes of dried flowers and saffron. The aromas are fleshy, full, almost palpable, and endowed with incredible depth. Infinite persistence.
The taste
Don’t underestimate it because it is very warm (53.3 degrees) in the mouth, but good freshness, spicy peaks, and a roundness that takes on tropical flavors and almost balsamic aromatic traits temper the alcoholic heat.
It never stands still; don’t think of a heavy or clumsy rum weighed down by a thousand spices, since it is always driven by a precise and clean acidity.
More than a rum, it is a small microcosm of taste; it embodies all the charm of Haiti and is a faithful mirror of it.
It’s not an ordinary or standard rum, and it doesn’t taste the same every time. You won’t use it to make cocktails, because that would be a waste. It should be drunk neat as a meditation drink, like any self-respecting distillate.
If you want to discover one of the faces of Haitian rum, taste the Rum Clairin Sajous from the Chelo distillery—it will not disappoint you!
Price
About 50 euros in online stores.
Food pairings
Chocolate cupcakes, cheesecakes, ciambella, Tiramisù or chocolate salami.