Saint Benevolence Rum Clairin. Saint Benevolence is a charitable organisation which was set up in 2017 by father and son team Calvin and Chase Babcock. This follows on four decades of work by Calvin in helping the people of Haiti.
The town of Saint Michel de L’Attalaye is where most of Calvin and Chase’s charitable work is located and it the people in this town that they have helped the most. They decided to combine their desire to help the people of Haiti with their love of Caribbean rum. And Saint Benevolence was born.
Novo Fogo Silver Cachaca. As I continue my journey into the world of cachaca I am encountering a few cachaca brands which are more geared for the export market, rather than the huge domestic market in Brasil.
Mount Gay XO Triple Cask Blend. For once in the rum world new packaging does 100% mean a change in the blend. It is not just the work of conspiracy theorists, who can remember exactly, what a rum tasted like 20 years ago and immediately notice tiny little differences to the blend – but only I hasten to add once the bottle shape and/or label have changed……..
Rhum Neisson Blanc 55%. Neisson are a Rhum Agricole producer from Martinique. Neisson produce their rhums from sugar cane harvested at their distillery and are a cane to bottle operatiion. They are not a brand that buy in rhum for blending and ageing.
Independent Bottler The Duchess have begun a line of Hummingbird inspired r(h)ums, with artwork, as always from Dutch artist Hans Dillesse.
Black Tears Spiced Rum. This is quite a unique spirit. It notes that this is the first Dry Cuban Spiced rum on the market. Now currently in Cuba the legislation around rum production allows for 20g/L of sugar. Any rum which exceeds that amount is noted as an Elixir – such as Legendario 
Cachaca D’Lourdes Carvalho. This cachaca hails from perhaps the most famous cachaca producing state in Brasil – Minas Gerais. However, this cachaca does not hail from the more common city Salinas but even further inland, in the city of Congonhas do Norte.