Habitation Velier Last Ward 2009 Pure Single Rum. WOW, this is an incredible, really special dram. This is a rum from Barbados, technically from the Mount Gay distillery. However, unlike almost all rum from Barbados today which are a blend of pot and column still distillate (including all the mainline Mount Gay rums), this is a rare 100% pot still rum – meaning it packs unrivaled flavor intensity.
Pot stills were the original style of stills used around the world for various spirits (whiskies, brandies, rums, etc) prior to the invention of the column still (aka continuous or Coffey still). It’s less efficient than the column still, but the products from pot stills are usually notably more rich and flavorful due to the level of congeners (organic flavor compounds) left in the distilled product.
You may know of Mount Gay as the oldest operating rum distillery. The Mount Gay brand has been owned by the spirits conglomerate Rémy-Cointreau for almost 30 years, but it wasn’t until 2014 that the Ward family (owner of the distillery in the century prior) sold all remaining holdings of the distillery and rum stock to Remy. Prior to the final sale, the Italian company Velier purchased the oldest pot still rums that Frank Ward had been working on for a separate Mt. Gilboa line, giving us this 9 year old magic liquid at cask strength (59%) that is unlike any other Barbados rum out there (and quite likely will never be out there again). If this piques your interest, I urge you to pick up some immediately before it’s gone for good as it’s SUPER limited; a few places to look online (US):
- K&L Wines (ships to CA only)
- Astor Wine and Spirits (ships to many states)
- wine-searcher.com
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