Providence 3 Year Old 2019 Haitian Rum 52% 700ml

Providence 3 Years Old 2019  -  Pure Single Rum from Haiti

This is the grown-up voice of a young spirit - Providence 3 Years Old, distilled in 2019 and aged under the fierce Haitian sun, is proof that terroir and time, when honoured with care, can create something greater than the sum of its parts. From the heart of Port-au-Prince, this bottling is a testament to tradition reborn - a spirit with roots deeper than barrels and flavours shaped by earth, cane, and heritage.

Crafted at the Distillerie de Port-au-Prince, Providence is more than just a distillery - it's a resurrection. A collaboration between the Linge family (of Barbancourt fame) and Luca Gargano's Velier, it was built with a singular goal: to revive the ancestral Haitian way of making rum, using local ingredients, long fermentation, and true pot still magic. This is not molasses-based - it's made from sugarcane syrup and fresh cane juice, a hybrid method rarely seen, giving the spirit a complex, almost spiritual duality.

This 3-year-old expression is their first aged release, and it hits with quiet confidence. Aged exclusively in ex-Caroni barrels, it picks up just the right amount of wood and funk - a nod to rum royalty, but unmistakably Haitian.

The nose is a beautiful paradox: delicate yet intense. You'll catch whiffs of honeyed cane, white pepper, dried mango, and green olive - followed by pastry dough, eucalyptus, and a trace of that telltale Port-au-Prince earthiness. There's also a subtle medicinal hum - a whisper of phenolics - but softened by barrel age into something almost floral.

On the palate, it walks a thrilling tightrope: dry, oily, slightly saline, with flavours of stone fruit, tobacco leaf, nutmeg, and grilled pineapple. That Caroni cask brings in soft tar and warm spice, grounding the brighter, grassy notes of the cane. There's structure here - it drinks more mature than its age - but it never loses the high-toned vibrancy of its raw materials. The finish is long and mineral, with echoes of anise, oak tannin, and sugarcane husk.

This is not a rum for the sweet-toothed. It's dry, honest, and demanding in the best way. Sip it neat to appreciate the transformation that tropical age and heritage technique can achieve in just three years. It also shines in spirit-forward builds: a Haitian Rum Old Fashioned, a Rhum Manhattan, or even a Ti' Punch Vieux with just a curl of lime and a touch of syrup.

Where unaged Providence rums like Dunder & Syrup are wild and raw, this aged release brings depth and poise without sacrificing soul. It's still Haiti, still defiant, but refined - like a street poet in a tailored jacket.

If you've been following the evolution of agricole, Clairin, or Velier's Transcontinental Rum Line, Providence 3 Years Old is a natural next chapter. It's also a spiritual sibling to young Hampdens or aged clairins - different, but kindred in its fearless commitment to place.