Habitation Velier has been one of the biggest loves for every rum lover out there, bringing to the fore one of the widest ranges of rum producers from all around the world! The brand, from rum champion, co-bottler and distributor Velier, can reliably be counted on to showcase producers that really ought to garner more attention, with numerous starlets making their big global debut on the Habitation Velier platform - so long as they're pot still distilled, that is!

And it seems for 2024, we've got three more expressions from Habitation Velier to dig into - we've got an ex-Sherry Cask 2019 Hampden, and a 2020 Providence, both of which we've certainly encountered within the Velier universe before, but who's that Monte Negro! Now that's what we're talking about! Bringing us to places not yet known!

Let's get into them!

Hampden LROK 2019 ex-Sherry Cask, 5 Year Old, Habitation Velier 

Molasses Rum, 60.5% ABV, 965 Bottles.

Hampden's LROK (Light Rum Owen Kelly) mark should be well understood by rum lovers by now, coming in as one of the Jamaican distillery's lighter marks, with 200-400 gr/hlpa of esters. But this is no standard issue Hampden LROK - here it's undergone Sherry Cask ageing, something that has been a big push by Luca Gargano, Velier's chief, as of late, with the hope of bringing some of whisky's standard practice to rums (bearing in mind ageing rum in Sherry casks itself is certainly done, but typically works as blend of various cask-aged rums, instead of being 100% Sherry Cask aged).

"The deep, complex and very mature palette of flavours and aromas invites us to discover Hampden in an unusual but so very interesting autumnal light. Rest assured, however, fans of this Jamaican rum will still find incredible empyreumatic sequences that set the pace for the tasting."

Here we'll get to try a 5 Year Old Hampden distilled in 2019 and bottled in 2024, with a congener level of 1,584,40 gr/hlpa.

Official Tasting Notes

Colour: Copper with Glints of Green.

Aroma: Full, heady. Revealing delicious cocoa, liquorice, balsamic notes (cedar), autumnal tones (dried leaves, lichen) and herbal infusions (thyme, bay leaf), the aroma palette beams with fresh complexity. Allowed to breathe, citrus fruit fragrances (orange, mandarin), apricot, sandalwood and wax bring great nobility.

Taste: Rich, dense. The flavour palette is full of energy and takes us to even more autumnal lands (porcini mushroom, truffle, chestnut). A very pleasant herbaceous bitterness (gentian, mint) arrives at the perfect time to refresh the taste buds. Emery cloth and walnut stain add the finishing touches to this colourful ensemble.

Finish: Long, rich. Intensifying the aroma palette’s chocolate character, the tasting becomes very rich (chocolate cake, .clair). Increasingly powdery (cinnamon, rice, ginger), it lingers on flavours of raisin and dates. The empyreumatic retro-nasal olfaction (diesel, fuel oil) marks the Hampden signature.

Providence 2020, 4 Year Old, Habitation Velier

Pure Cane Juice & Cane Syrup Rum, 55% ABV, 1,500 Bottles.

Providence has now joined the ranks of distilleries that have graduated beyond their early innings of producing only white unaged rums, it now provides a consistent supply of aged rums to the Velier universe. Haiti's Port au Prince Distillerie, which produces the Providence rums has been the project of Velier chief, Luca, in collaboration with members of the Barbancourt family, and also Vittorio Capovilla - together tying together Haitian rum ancestry, the rum world's biggest force and the champion of grappa, respectively.

After the first bottling from Distillerie de Port-au-Prince, a white rum distilled in 2021, we now invite you to discover this 2020 vintage aged in Caroni casks and produced exclusively from Cristalline cane, grown in Saint-Michelde- l’Attalaye. Leaving adolescence behind to join the adult world, it offers a bright and fresh expression. Underscored by infinitely voluptuous notes of cane sugar, the flavour and aroma palette is driven by very pure sequences of tropical fruits, florals, spices and vanilla.

Here we'll get to try a 4 Year Old Providence distilled in 2020 and bottled in 2024.

Official Tasting Notes 

Colour: Vibrant Golden Yellow

Aroma: Rich and voluptuous. Opening with spices (pepper, clove), camphor and tropical fruits (ripe banana), the aroma palette then develops more vanilla and medicinal registers (arnica). Allowed to breathe, cane honey and warm cane sugar flood the air, pepped up by a very pleasant salinity.

Taste: Lively yet creamy. Alongside delicate liquorice, honey (geranium) and vegetal notes of sugarcane, the flavour palette wavers between candied lemon and pineapple. Sweet spices (ginger, cinnamon) and vanilla pod softly coat the taste buds.

Finish: Long, silky. The finish is juicy (pineapple), slightly tannic (cane wood) and heady (iris butter), before becoming richer (vanilla flan) and more tropical (coconut, lychee). The retro-nasal olfaction reveals candied notes (pear, Mirabelle plum, ginger), herbaceous tobacco leaf aromas and precious woods (sandalwood, cedar).

Monte Negro 2020, 4 Year Old, Habitation Velier

Pure Cane Juice Rum, 45% ABV, 2,000 Bottles.

And now we come to the most intriguing of the lot - the Monte Negro rum! This rum, made from cane juice, comes from Cape Verde's Monte Negro Distillery, located in an island complex off the western coast of Africa, on the side of the Atlantic. Monte Negro Distillery might not necessarily be a name most rum lovers may be familiar with, although the distillery's flagship expression might - recognise the red-labelled Barbosa Grogue?

Grogue is the national drink of Cape Verde (or Cabo Verde), and dates all the way back to the mid-15th century, when it was exclusively sold to the British Navy, hence the naval popularisation of the word "grogue"! The distillery is the work of the Barbosa Amado & Vicente family who have run the distillery since the mid-1960's, and its flagship grogue's red label on its bottle is an homage to the red cane that the distillery uses, distilled in their 350-litre copper pot still.

Whilst more might be familiar with the unaged Barbosa Grogue, here we'll get to try an aged variation, where this has been distilled in 2020 and bottled in 2024, aged for 4 years. It touts a congener level of 699,10 gr/hlpa here.

"The luxurious palette of f lavours and aromas is composed of fresh shaded patches that highlight the intensely fruity, spicy and medicinal character."

Official Tasting Notes

Colour: Golden Yellow

Aroma: Rich, heady. The aroma palette reveals pepper, vanilla, liquorice and fibrous notes of cane wood, while lime, tropical fruits (pineapple) and medicinal tones bring refreshment.

Taste: Both lively and soft. Drawing out the length of the nose, the flavour palette gradually allows honey and herbal infusions (vervain, sage) to emerge. With lots of intensity, it then reveals a multitude of sweet spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, star anise).

Finish: Long, smooth. The milky finish (almond) now reaches a state of calm. This enables tropical fruits (banana, kiwi, kaffir lime) to come to the fore. On the retro-nasal olfaction, iris butter