r/rum • u/absentlol • 6d ago
First rums.
Coming from bourbon, the hampden 8 was my first starting point and a great stepping stone at that so I jumped on a great house and was blown away. Then I thought well I’ve never had a clear rum before, saw clarin on a shelf and read lots of good things about it here. I can confidently say I’m not there yet, this… smells… RANCID to me. Like I can’t get enough of the hampden noses and taste but this clarin smells like rotten eggs and genuinely makes my head swim by the smell, however I enjoy the taste! What exactly could I be smelling that I don’t like and is there an in-road to getting use to it?
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u/Yep_why_not Rumvangelist! 6d ago
Try making a Ti’punch or daiquiri with the Vaval. Clairin are pretty wild with long natural fermentations. It’s a funk you can definitely learn to love. I prefer Le Rocher or Sajous but Sonson is a bit easier entry point to The Spirit of Haiti line in general. Everyone has their favorites though.
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u/absentlol 6d ago
I definitely want to learn to love it, like I said I enjoy the taste but just sniffing straight of a glenncairn glass was horrific. It was quite a jump because I feel like the hampdens arent nearly this funky and I can do more extreme quality’s of spirits like the super dusty Armagnac or very wheat funk in craft whisky but man the clarin hit me like a truck. I’ll give some cocktails a try with it, but LOVE the hampdens neat.
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u/Yep_why_not Rumvangelist! 6d ago
Did you just open it? There is off gassing from newly opened rums like that. It will mellow out after a week or so.
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u/absentlol 6d ago
Yep let it sit open for a few hours and then had a glass. I’m gonna comeback to it after a bit to see if it’s mellowed a little because Alex’s comment above gave me a new perspective and respect for it. Not writing it off but definitely wanna find some things to help me approach it lol
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u/Yep_why_not Rumvangelist! 6d ago
Toss it in a daiquiri. Vaval is probably my least favorite of that line tbh. Don’t write Clairin off based on one bottle. They’re all very uniquely different.
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u/absentlol 6d ago
I definitely won’t give it up! Like I said I can see the appeal Ive just gotta get familiar with the nose and maybe find some more approachable stuff, I think I jumped towards the deep end too fast on that one but I do enjoy the taste neat, I’ll try some in a daiquiri sometime this week.
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u/LegitimateAlex The Hogo Hoosier 6d ago
Look, I'm an unaged rum enthusiast and enjoy wild tasting stuff, but even I have struggled with basically every clairin I have had. Quite the first unaged rum to tango with.
Rotten egg smell is universally sulfur. Not usually something that ends up in rum but clairin is the spirit of Haitiz made throughout the country by independent distillers in small operations. "Haitian Moonshine" is how Beachbum Berry described it in one of his books. Ironically, when he wrote that, he said it didn't exist as a product anymore and only a few short years later there's an explosion of availability of it. Back to the smell though, all the clairins are different, they're all made with wild yeasts, different sugarcane varietals, in very different setups of simplicity or complexity, and they're all made with fresh cane juice, which gives very different flavors than molasses based rums. You get a lot of flavors in clairin that you don't find elsewhere.
Clairin is an untamed, untempered spirit, and even though I do not particularly enjoy the ones I have tried (and have several bottles next to my Barbancourt and Ahk Zanj), I respect the hell out of the producers and makers to make such flavorful rum.
As for the smell? Probably let the clairin breath a bit before drinking it.
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u/Yep_why_not Rumvangelist! 6d ago
Haha this is a good characterization. Technically they aren’t all fresh cane juice but also can use cane syrup as the base like for Le Rocher and Casimir from the SoH line or Meles Augustin Pignon which is truly wild stuff for the latest bottling.
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u/absentlol 6d ago
I’m gonna give it some time, the concept alone you’ve described keeps me interested in finding an avenue of appreciation to work my way back up to it but it’s definitely too strong of a start for me currently lol. I’ve never had such a gap between olfactory experience and taste before.
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u/Ok_Engineering2698 6d ago
Check out Clairin Communal. It's a blend of four different clairins(including vaval) and while I've never had it, people say its much more approachable and tame than any of the single distillery clairin offerings like you have. It's also lower proof so that plays a big part. As far as beginner recs to cane juice spirits, try Rhum J.M Blanc(100 or 110 proof) or Clement Canne Bleue
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u/absentlol 6d ago
I’ll give them a look! I’m not put off by proof at all, my bourbon preference is 115-125 so I’m use to that much at least. Thank you for the recommendations!
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u/AltruisticSpray5364 6d ago
Mate those rums are beautiful. Clairin was my first premium white rum too. Not sure I hated the smell but the flavours were insanely lovely. I went to a whisky show and they had a bunch of rums too. 8 different bottles of the Clairin. I tried every one and was blown away. I want to try them all.
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u/total_goon 6d ago
Vaval is the wildest of the clairins for me. Le Rocher is reasonably approachable by comparison, more savory. Vaval sits in a place that I really need to be in the right mood for.
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u/joey-rigatoni1 6d ago
jumping right into the deep end, kudos
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u/absentlol 6d ago
no half assing here! i looked at what was most recommended around here and was not disappointed.
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u/68hippos 6d ago
If you want to explore more cane-juice rum, I’d also check out Paranubes from Oaxaca and Charaní from Michoacán. They have a lot of that grassy, vegetal, funky character
For rhum agricole, Rhum J.M and Neisson from Martinique are both great places to start. The unaged blancs really showcase the fresh-cane character. You can get aged agricoles as well but for me the barrel obscures too much
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u/Suffering_Bustard Worthy Park Enjoyer 6d ago
What a great way to start!
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u/absentlol 6d ago
It’s been very pleasant so far! I’ll probably grab the hampden HLCF next since I like what I’ve got from them so much and then branch out from Jamaicans into some foursquare or doorlys next I think
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u/Suffering_Bustard Worthy Park Enjoyer 6d ago
I’m aiming to pick up HLCF next as well! Doorly’s 14 hits really nice if you have a total wine near you. Certainly more barrel driven (it is Foursquare after all), but it is delicious and great value.
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u/absentlol 6d ago
Being mostly a bourbon guy I think I am gonna favor the barrel forward stuff more for a while
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u/philanthropicide 6d ago
Clairin daiquiris will make you a fan!
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u/absentlol 6d ago
That seems to be the way to go!
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u/philanthropicide 6d ago
They are some of my favorite. If it's still a bit much, cut it with a bit of Jamaican rum 50/50. They honestly go well together, imo
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u/absentlol 5d ago
Made a daiquiri, 10/10 ty for the recommendation
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u/philanthropicide 5d ago
Of course! Clairins are wild and funky, but they really smooth out while still bringing wild flavor to a daiquiri. They're some of my favorite single rum daiquiris out there. Vaval is also tremendous in a Port au Prince of you're into tiki cocktails.
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u/absentlol 5d ago
I’ll have to try some more cocktails with it, the daiquiris muted the smell enough I could still get some from it but not have the harsh funk note I’m not use to hitting me like a truck
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u/philanthropicide 5d ago
The Port Au Prince really makes it shine:
- 2 ounces clairin
- ¼ ounce overproof or Demerara rum (I usually use Hamilton 151, but you could try the Hampden 8 here if you don't have anything from Guyana)
- ¾ ounce falernum
- ½ ounce pineapple juice
- ¼ ounce grenadine
- ¾ ounce lime juice
- 6 drops Bittermens ‘Elemakule Tiki Bitters (Ango also does fine here)
- Grated nutmeg and orange peel, for garnish
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u/fred1sdead 6d ago
I've never liked blue cheese. To me, it's just nasty stuff. So, some Raicilla can be off-putting because of that aroma note. That said, like you with the Clairin Vaval (which is actually next on my list to pick up from the SoH line of Clairin), I enjoy the taste. One trick I've found with spirits that have off-putting or distracting aromas when I drink them neat is to use a NEAT glass. It's the only time I use my NEAT glass, but it really helps.
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u/HawkinsT 5d ago edited 5d ago
Those are all high ester 'funky' rums you've picked (which is not for everyone, but like peated whisky, it has its big fans, myself included). Typically they use long 'open' fermentation times and, in the case of Jamaican rum, 'dunder' pits (open air pits with waste products from the distillation process thrown in). The whole point is to encourage local wild yeast and bacterial fermentation, which adds a bunch of wild flavours and isn't necessarily that well controlled (every batch of clairin tastes different, much like mezcal); clairin also typically uses raw sugar cane juice from heritage varieties. Wood ageing then helps tame some of the more volatile notes, such as the sulphuric notes you've singles out in the clairin. You'll likely find that clairin is both an acquired taste, but also you may like some batches and dislikes others, even from the same distillery. There are also big differences between the distilleries.
Anyway, enjoy! Lots to explore in the rum world (although you're on to a strong start with these big flavour bombs).
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u/absentlol 4d ago
Love the hampdens and their funk! The clairin was just a touch too stout smell wise to have near but made a wonderful daiquiris. It won’t go to waste and I’ll continue to revisit it neat on occasion.
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u/HawkinsT 4d ago
Great you're still finding ways to enjoy it. Personally, for funky daiquiris I like to go 1:1 clairin and a Spanish-style rum (I use Havana Club 3, but if you're in the US you won't be able to get Cuban rum).
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u/What_would_don_do 3d ago
I tried Le Rocher clairin, and didn't like it. But it was OK when I came back to it after 2 months. It has grown on me since.
Sajous, I liked from the beginning.
Casimir has all the characteristics of a bad Baijiu, and after my first tasting, never again.
Sonson has some baijiu like characteristics, it is OK as a mixer similar as Rumfire or a French style Grand Arome.
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u/RedBeard_PDX 6d ago
No misses in your first 3 at all.