Drink of the Week: Providence Haitian Rum Blanc - Imbibe Magazine Subscribe + Save

Drink of the Week: Providence Haitian Rum Blanc

New brands with old stories increasingly populate the spirits world. For Providence—a Haitian rum that began appearing in U.S. markets in recent weeks—the “new” part is very new: It’s the debut rum from Distillerie de Port-au-Prince, which opened in 2018. And the “old” part? The distillery is a collaboration between La Maison & Velier (a joint venture between France’s La Maison du Whisky and Italy’s Velier), and the Barbancourt-Linge family—direct descendants of Labbé Barbancourt, who with his brother Dupré established Haiti’s legendary Barbancourt rum distillery in 1862. (The brothers went in separate directions in 1870, and Dupré’s descendants still run the Barbancourt distillery today.)

The first run at the new distillery took place in early 2019, overseen by master distiller Herbert Barbancourt-Linge Jr. Made using organically grown Cristalline sugarcane, the rum is produced by separately fermenting fresh sugarcane juice and sugarcane syrup, then distilling them separately on a pot still, before blending the spirits and distilling them together a second time. 

This “First Drops” debut was produced in November 2019 and bottled at 57 percent ABV (114 proof). Bright and lively in the glass, with an aroma of fresh grass and lime peel, the rum is dry and ethereal, with bursts of tropical fruit and fresh berries on the palate, and a full, zesty finish.

Rum was made to mingle with lime and sugar—go traditional with a Daiquiri to taste the rum’s performance in a familiar ensemble crew, or steer it toward a ‘Ti Punch, to admire the bold rum’s graceful complexity with only the lightest of adornments. $49.99, binnys.com

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