Clairin Casimir 'Distillery Faubert' Haitian Rum

Barradères is only 25 km as the crow flies from Cavaillon, which is on the national road from Port-au-Prince to Les Cayes, but to get there it takes at least three hours with a good 4-wheel drive vehicle, along a dirt road that climbs the hills covered by tropical forest. Here there is no restaurant, no bar, not even a pharmacy, but there are thirteen distilleries. Faubert Casimir continues the work started by his father Duncan in 1979 and he is considered the best distiller in the area. He cultivates fifty hectares of Hawaii Blanche and Hawaii Rouge cane; these are un-hybridised soft and tiny canes. In this area the distillers add some herbs or vegetable matter to pure cane juice during fermentation, to enhance the aromas. Casimir adds leaves of citronella, cinnamon, and, in some batches, ginger.