Bally is today owned by the La Martiniquaise group, who La Maison du Whisky has worked closely with for over 20 years. Old vintages of Bally are therefore classics for us. Bally’s master distiller Marc Sassier took over presidency of the Rhum Agricole Martinique appellation in 2016. A trained oenologist, he is also a great rum technician and a highly respected figure in the industry. For several years, La Maison du Whisky has had the great privilege of being able to select limited series from Bally. For this catalogue, we are offering two exclusive versions, one multi-vintage bottling of rums distilled in 1999, 2005 and 2007, and one cask strength small batch from 2006..

In 2006, François Longueteau teamed up with Grégoire Hayot and Sylvain Guzzo to create the Karukera rum distillery and release an aged version of his rhum agricole. Domaine du Marquisat de Sainte-Marie was equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including a vat room with airing and brewing equipment to refi ne the rums, an ageing cellar, storage areas and a laboratory. In 2007, a year after its creation, Karukera began working with La Maison du Whisky in a partnership that has now been going strong for almost 15 years. This year, the brand offered us two single casks, one 2009 bourbon barrel and one expression distilled in 2014, the first ever Karukera sherry cask.

Marie-Galante is located in the south of Guadeloupe. In 2004, Luca Gargano, the director of Velier, La Maison du Whisky’s Italian alterego, invited his friend and fruit brandy distiller Gianni Capovilla to visit the island to study the local sugar cane, a red cane renowned for its high sugar content.

In 2021, Isautier approached La Maison du Whisky and our alterego Velier for the distribution of its aged rums. The two exclusives in this catalogue represent the brand’s expertise, one a traditional rum and the other a rhum agricole, both aged in bourbon casks for 16 years. In keeping with the tradition for Velier’s most prestigious rums, both limited series were bottled at 65%, in the same bottle as the famous Demerara, Caroni and Foursquare bottlings.

In the Gargano Classification, distinctions are made between industrial rum, single blends, rhum agricole and pure single rums. The Habitation Velier collection is dedicated entirely to the latter — pot still rums produced at a single distillery and bottled without added sugar or colouring. The range’s labels are a model of transparency. Each show – cases the still used to produce the rum in question, as well as the exact date of distillation and bottling, the variety of cane sugar used and the ester content. This year, we have selected two casks from the Jamaican distillery Long Pond, bottled specially for La Maison du Whisky: a TECA 2005 and a TECA 2010.

The release did not go unnoticed by specialists; Papalin was a huge success and the batch of just a few thousand bottles quickly sold out. In 2021, Luca decided to refresh this iconic brand with a new blend created from two leading Jamaican rums, Hampden and Worthy Park, both aged in a tropical climate. Papalin 2021 is available in two versions, Full Proof and 47°.

In 2018, La Maison du Whisky and Velier were commissioned to create the first range of aged Hampden and entrusted with the brand’s international distribution.
Although Hampden began ageing part of its production on site in 2010, it had still never released the results. The joint Franco-Italian venture with the distillery notably experimented with different types of cask for maturation, including sherry casks. These quickly produced
incredible results.

Like the world’s most aromatic whiskies, such as those produced on Islay, the Jamaican rum paired perfectly with the Andalusian wine’s notes of rancio without being overpowered by them, leading to a completely new profile of aromas. Pagos — the first Hampden in history to be aged in sherry casks — is a unique product guaranteed to appeal to rum enthusiasts and fans of sherry cask single malts. For the third year running, La Maison du Whisky has also been given an allocation from Great House, a limited edition cask strength bottling available directly from the distillery.

Finally, a three-litre jug is also included in the selection. Designed in the shape of antique bottles, it contains a young Hampden LROK 5 Year Old that reveals a stunning combination of aromatic intensity and freshness.

In 2015, La Maison du Whisky began working with the rum for the first Habitation Velier range, which included a Worthy Park 10 Year Old, produced in 2005 to celebrate the reopening of the distillery. Its bold style, typical of Jamaican expressions, won over a huge number of premium rum enthusiasts. In Jamaica — the Caribbean’s answer to Islay —while Hampden is sometimes likened to Ardbeg and Laphroaig, Worthy Park is far more similar to Caol Ila, producing an accessible and enchanting spirit. Both versions bottled for the Maison du Whisky catalogue off er a great overview of the distillery’s expertise. The first is a “Light” version (with an ester content of 60 – 119 g/hl of pure alcohol) from 2005. Distilled in Forsyth pot stills, it is the oldest rum bottled by Worthy Park since the distillery reopened. The second is a “Medium” version (with an ester content of 120 – 239 g/hl of pure alcohol) from 2007, one of the only medium rums aged by the distillery.

As he had already done at Waterford, his aim was to highlight the influence of the local terroir by promoting the traceability of its products. With the help of his local partners, he began growing sugar cane. The project was incredibly ambitious and today he has access to 93 hectares of crop spread across 12 farms in 45 different terroirs!

In September 2020, the Renegade distillery (an anagram of Grenade) began production. The facilities are quite frankly idyllic. Not only does the distillery produce expressions that showcase each different plot of cane, but it also uses phytoremediation technology that, among other wonders, cleans the air, purifies wastewater and decontaminates the soil. Like Waterford, La Maison du Whisky has supported Renegade since its early days. The two versions presented here are world exclusives: Pearls and New Bacolet showcase two plots and two varieties of cane — Yellow Lady and Lacalome Red — both of which produce a detailled expression of their terroirs.