A New Chapter in Rum - Habitation Velier

10/5/18 -

For the past few years I've been hearing bartender friends and other industry professionals posit the theory that rum will be the next craft spirit to explode in popularity and demand. And while I am hugely enthusiastic abut the category in general, the reality didn't seem likely to match up with all of our hopes. Until this year, that is. The introduction of Velier, an Italian company specializing in craft spirits, notably rum, has brought a wave of excitement to the US market, as well as exciting products to quench our thirsty palates. To refernece the somewhat overused marketing slogan, a  "Rum Revolution" might actually be about to happen.

Habitation Velier is a project done in collaboration with various distilleries around the Caribbean to highlight the qualities of pot-distilled rums, aged entirely in the tropics, and bottled without any sugar or additives, at high or full proof. Of the 49 commercially operational distilleries in the Caribbean, only 18 employ pot stills, with the rest choosing to produce their spirits on either single column stills as is traditional in Martinique for example, or large multi-column stills that have the capability to quickly and efficiently rectify to very high alcohol levels and strip out almost all flavor from the raw material (looking at you, Bacardi!). In contrast, distillation in a pot still is longer, slower, and by doing only one pass, more of the flavors and aromatic compounds are retained from the original material. We're very happy to be able to offer these delicious and distinct rums from some of our favorite distilleries in the Caribbean. Oskar Kostecki

We're also very excited to have Kate Perry, US Market Manager for La Maison & Velier on hand next Friday, October 12th to pour these stupendous spirits. The tasting will be from 5-7pm. Stop by and expand your rum horizons!