OR
2.) I certify that I am the owner of this photo. I release all rights of this photo and place this photo in the public domain.
I thank you in advance and look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Leticia Avierkiieva (please reply to gourmand86@yahoo.com with this request)
PS: mycitycuisine.org is a wiki project so you are encouraged to contribute to it by sharing your knowledge of your local cuisine. Thank you.

but i have to say i love Marie, for her comment, and Bill for shedding a positive light on the product of my home country….
i just see this article as a negative scrutiny expose, but what i don’t understand is why would someone go to such an extent to degrade something that is very well common enough to raise interest from people from accross the world…and then make it and the people who tell you about and produce it look bad

anyway another point to see here, the distiller of the Clairin Lakaye: 4 Kanpe—- like any other businessman, first mission was probably to make profit from his product, and people health wasn’t the focal point here, while i said it like that, i mean the producer was probably so concerned about making money that he would never plan on affecting people health, instead wanted people to buy more and more of the product after having trying it,

my English need some work, but i wanted to stand up for something tthat i
truly cherished, that was disparaged——–
Marie i can see is a very wise and respectful person, but i can;t help being direct about the author of the article being very negative

i am an Haitian, but if you asked me i wouldn’t know what to tell yuou about it, as i have not the first clue to how it is made, hence why i read the article in the first place to try to find out, although i learn a little from the difference between clairin and rum
i feel like the author didn;t stick to the goal in mind to explain what the product was and instead choose to say it is still unexplained, nevertheless a poison

half the town here eat and drink stuff from restaurant all the time and they have no clue how these food, such as the burgers, the nuggets, etc are made how they differ from each other and stuff, so why you expect the hotel guests to know so much about it,
aaahhh, that was just a crazy move writing that article
thank you verymuch

Second of all – I recently tried Neisson Rhum Agricole from Martinique, and it is by far the closest thing I have ever had to the Clairin I have had in Haiti. Rhum Agricole is rum distilled from pure cane sugar, as opposed to molasses based Rums. The bottle I have is the ‘blanc’ kind- unaged. There are pricier bottles that are darker in color because they’re aged, but the unaged stuff tastes strikingly like Clairin. I never bought the name brand clairin to bring back to the states, but i guess the stuff I was drinking was mostly cane sugar spirit, or at least tasted like it. I wonder if this is specifically a French Caribbean tradition, of making rum from pure cane juice, rather than from molasses, like in the former British or Spanish colonies? really different taste.

Will provide a little more at a later time.

vizite nou nan
http://www.kreyol.org

Like you say, I should have spent more time in the countryside to learn more about Clarin since that is where it is made.

As it was, I just asked people about Clarin (e.g. Clarin vendors in the market, barmen, taxi drivers, guests in my hotel, the distiller at Barbancourt, etc.). I got lots of different answers and opinions, making it hard to know what the reality was.

My sense is that the distinction between rum and clarin in Haiti may be a little like that between rum/ron and aguardiente in Cuba. In Cuba it seems like rum is double distilled and aguardiente (less popular than rum, and not sold in most bars, though you still see around a bit) is single distilled. Some Cubans told me aguardiente does not have to be made from molasses (like Cuban rum) but can be made direct from cane juice. That would make aguardiente more of a home-made product – though some of the big Cuban distilleries (e.g. Mulatta) make aguardiente alongside their rums.

But anyway, any knowledge or insights you care to share would be great.

Of course there is nothing unusual about alcohol becoming a focus of misinformation. It happens all the time.

Why would buy a bottle of Clarin containing sediment if I was worried about the sediment? Curiosity to learn more about ClarinI guess. Feel happy I took an interest.

Janessa, Barbancourt is a typical Haitian Rhum. It is very well known for its smooth flavor. I can tell that Bill knows what he is talking about and actually learn a lot from his trip to Haiti

Sorry if I came up strong in this matter, it is just annoying to read unverified sources talk about thing they should not.

In Brazil the same alambik that distill Cachaça (from fermented sugar cane juice) can also distill a second round to obtain high grade ethanol, or else install a longer distill tower on the same alambik to obtain 85-87% GL ethanol with just one distillation.

Cachaça is usually around 38 to 46% GL, and it can be aged in oak barrels. To produce quality cachaça nowadays one must take out about 10% of the initial distilled product (head), and also the last 20% (tail), so to have a clean spirit.