Clairin Le Rocher

Great rum! All of the Clairins I have tried so far are wonderful spirits. All are a steal for $50.

Brought it to a friend’s and opened it and they could smell it across the room. Exclaiming what the hell is that. I get green olives and brine. Reminds me of a super charged Mexcal. It’s a change of pace when you want something different not subtle.

Tento Clairin vyrábí Romulus Bethel v malé vesnici Pignon v destilerii Le Rocher. Není vyráběn z čisté šťávy cukrové třtiny, ale ze sirupu. I fermentace je odlišná - ve fermentační kádi se nechá zbytek z předešlé fermentace a kvasí se i s novou várkou.

Aroma: To už není zasmrádlost, ale regulérní smrad - silná sirnatost, smradlavé nohy, láková nakyslost a tlející zeleň.
Chuť: Kouřová, kyselá, travnatý výluh.
Dozvuk: Rašelina, tinktura, třtina. Dlouhý.
Sladkost: 0/3
Celá lahev
Nejhorší z ochutnávky 5 Clairinů - Le Rocher je už brutální smraďoch; silné kafe i pro ty, kteří mají tento styl rádi. Ze všech Clairinů se k tomuto budu vracet nejméně.
1. Ansyen 9/10
2. Sajous 8+/10
3. Vaval 8/10
4. Sonson 8/10
5. Le Rocher 6/10

I really want to like this one, but struggle to. The medicine, grass and "inorganic" tastes is hard for me to enjoy. I am sure it is mainly a taste I haven't acquired yet, but for now my rating is appropriate, if not even a little high.

My intention is for this to be a warning for any newcomer, as well as measurment for my own sake. Maybe in half a year I will change this rating. I certainly look forward to trying.

Edit: Came back to it after a long time and I am pleasantly surprised how much more I like it now. The initial nose is hard to swallow, but after some sips and having let the pour open up, it truly is nice. And the taste is nothing like the smell.

Some other rums have gotten boring to me now, so I might have to rate this even higher later. For now I bump it up to 8 for being both fun and quite nice!

@Mujuru picked up a lot more flavors than I did, to me this is a smoked bacon laced with Worcestershire sauce kind of rum. When I first read his reference to bubble gum I didn't get it, but I am now starting to taste faint traces of bubble gum, how weird is that? It definitely wasn't there upon first opening the bottle, or even a few days later, but after a week or so it showed up out of nowhere. I'm not smelling it on the nose, but its there on the finish.

I'm a bit relieved that after all the superlatives and warnings thrown about regarding clairins, I am able to sip my first one neat and enjoy it. I agree with the comments about it not being for beginners, this is a bit of a wild style to get thrown into early in your experience with sipping rums.

@Paul B. compared it to Laphroaig scotch, given that they both have a smoky component, but to me its not the same kind of smoke. (I have a Laphroaig scotch right next to the bottle of clairin) Laphroaig has a smoke flavor like a campfire, this has a flavor more like smoked bacon over a frying pan, its a bit sweeter and fatty tasting.

Another reviewer mentioned motor oil, glue, and banana, I don't get any of those flavors, go figure.

Paul's review is 4 years old, so we aren't reviewing the exact same product, and given this is 100% pot still and kinda crazy I suspect that each year's product is going to be a little different from the others. I'm not sure how much they may differ each year, it may be negligible, but I suspect they're not identical from year to year. And the price has gone up from $39 in Paul's review to $59 for the one I bought. Mujuru states the ABV at 48.2%, and my version is 49.5%, so we're not reviewing the exact same thing either.

If you're open minded, and looking for something totally different, give it a try if smoked bacon is to your liking.

Boy, this is likely the best unaged rum on my shelf, which is quite a surprise to me. It was a whole lot of too much for me at first, and it took a hesitant revisit several months later for it to click for me. Many say that the initial briny olive character of Clairins tends to dissipate after being open for awhile, or after the neck pour is gone, and I have sure found that to be the case here. After time, what I taste now is a strange sweetness that is really unlike anything else I can compare it to, in gastronomy or mixology... it's a powdered sugar or aspartame, sweeter than sweet, but irresistibly impossible to pin down. This is to me the dominant note, even as flavors savory, sweet, and petrochemical drift in and out.

It's like some mystical or alchemical elixir of life where all flavors possible in the world coexist. This makes for a challenging tasting experience, and also, the best daiquiri you will ever taste, though I generally only sip it straight.

The way Clairins seem to divide people into factional fanboys seems to have no rhyme or reason (aside from the purists and agricole heads who unilaterally favor Sajous)... but I frequently see Le Rocher being referred to as the strangest, most challenging, of the expressions. For me, this was decidedly not the case: I think the strangely savory notes of Casimir and Vaval are way more inaccessible.

Super interesting flavor
Like sipping it. A bit hot but worthy of sufferin

Tasted at Tiny Tiki on 5/20/23. Pours clear. Aroma of Parmesan cheese. A bit of band aid rubber bands. Crazy smoke flavor- mezcal like. Apricots. This is very good.

Ananas, ovoce, sladkost, slanost, měl jsem vzorek, kde byla v chuti mýdlová levandule, musím zjistit, jestli špatný vzorek nebo reálná chuť.

Nose - buttered movie popcorn, campfire smoke, tropical pandan leaf, flaky pastry’s, salted ice, Valentine’s Day heart candies, black pepper, salt water, taffy, buttered toast and jam, Maple syrup.

Palate - Smoke! Islay smoke, peat, rocks and minerals, fruit, papaya, a little cherry cola, sweet cane.

Finish - long finish, more smoke, hickory and peat, black pepper extract, light vegetal stuff, pop rocks, laphroaig 10.

Thoughts: This stuff rules! They use 30% dunder in each batch so this is like sweet and Smokey Jamaican influenced spirt with some Haitian veggie funk. Definitely one of my favorites.