Haiti Week, I: Rhum Barbancourt "5 Star" 8yo, Ak Zanj 8yo, Vieux Labbé "20th Anniversary" 1999 21yo
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- Опубліковано 24 чер 2024
- I adore Haitian rum. Adore it. With apologies to Martinique, if there's a cane juice/cane syrup answer to the molasses-based powerhouse that is Jamaica then it's probably Haiti. And with that, and in the interest of expressing as much solidarity for the Repiblik d Ayiti as a white guy in Chicago possibly can, I thought it'd be fun to work through some new releases plus an old classic I somehow haven't hit yet. Today is large column-based stuff, then on Friday we go straight into batch distilled madness. Stats:
- Rhum Barbancourt 5 Star Réserve Spéciale 8 Year Old (Port-au-Prince; multi-column distilled cane juice; I thought this was aged in French oak but the site no longer says; bottled circa 2022; 43% ABV), 82/100
- Ak Zanj 8 Year Old Haitian Rum (produced by Berling S.A., Port-au-Prince; multi-column distilled cane juice, aged in ex-Cognac; bottled circa 2022; 43% ABV), 82/100
- Vieux Labbé "20th Anniversary" 1999 21 Year Old Haitian Rum (produced by Berling S.A., Port-au-Prince; multi-column distilled cane juice, aged in ex-Cognac; bottled 3/2020; 58.9% ABV), 85+/100
To be honest I don't think highly rectified continuously distilled spirit is Haiti's strongest style - and so what? The Barbancourt and Ak Zanj still provide some fun variation (and a little ABV bump) over comparable Cuban-style options and will absolutely kill it in a mojito. The Barbancourt is an old classic, and a bit more friendly and cola-driven than I remember (and I realized after recording this that the site no longer mentions French oak maturation, which may explain that a bit). I might personally opt for the 15 - which I reviewed way back at • Rhum Barbancourt 15-Ye... - but this is worth trying at least once. The Ak Zanj is a darker, more peppery answer to the Barbancourt - the cognac casks may have something to do with that - but if you really pay attention to it, it's about the same level of quality. That said, I do like it a bit more than their unaged version ( • Random Cane Juice Trio... ).
Then there's the Vieux Labbé 20th. Like the Ak Zanj, this is coming out of Berling (headed by Herbert Barbancourt Linge of Providence), but you can really feel those extra 13 years in barrel. Armagnac fans should come right on over, I think you might like this one. Lots of dark, loud oak, with just a few hints of fennel and rubber to remind you that there's a rum in there. Fun, worth seeking out.
What's that? What about the clairins? Hang on, we're getting there...
Extra special thanks to my Different Spirits on Patreon ( / differentspirits ) -
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Hell yeah, love Clairins.
They're coming! I promise!
FWIW, I rated the Ak Zanj 8 up 2 points from barbancourt 8. (84 vs 82). My bottle of AZ8 seemed like it did not fall completely off like you were describing. It also felt like it had an extended finish comparatively with the longevity primarily being driven by Cognac-adjacent notes. Definitely agree that neither were mind blowing though. Both cocktail well.
Great content. Looking forward to Friday 🙂
I'm returning my bottle, clearly it was defective. As for Friday, I think you may know some of these bottles well...
@@differentspirits4157 That or my palate is scuffed. Look forward to your opinions on them 😉
I had figured there might be some stock usage overlap with the Zanj lines. I wonder if they’re dosing in the way Barbancourt does, differently, or not at all. That alone sounds like it might account for the differences you called out between them especially towards the finish.
I wouldn't be remotely surprised if these were all coming from the same distillery! As for added sugar, in retrospect the Barbancourt probably has a dash (but it honestly wasn't bugging me too much) and the Ak Zanj has less if any. (That said, my scores stand!)
@@differentspirits4157 as I understand it, Barbancourt is more or less transparent that their stuff is aged in a manner similar to Barrilito - that is, dosed in the barrel, and not necessarily with just sugar.
And FWIW I don’t mean that as a commentary on scoring, just looking for sources of difference between the products.