Velier Arawaks Vieux Vaval (First Release) 2015
For curious explorers of Haitian clairin, this 8‑year Velier Vieux Vaval delivers funky cane juice character tamed by wood. Expect glue, overripe fruit, herbs, salty/medicinal notes and a dry, slightly bitter finish. Best neat with time to open up. Backed by 47 RumX reviews and a strong 82/100 consensus.
- Funky clairin character
- Complex, evolving palate
- Dry, woody finish
Details about Velier Arawaks Vieux Vaval (First Release) 2015
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How does Velier Arawaks Vieux Vaval (First Release) 2015 taste?
Aggregated from 47 community reviews.
Funky, woody clairin for patient sippers For curious explorers of Haitian clairin, this 8‑year Velier Vieux Vaval delivers funky cane juice character tamed by wood. Expect glue, overripe fruit, herbs, salty/medicinal notes and a dry, slightly bitter finish. Best neat with time to open up. Backed by 47 RumX reviews and a strong 82/100 consensus.
Fans of funky cane-juice rums who enjoy medicinal, gluey notes, dry wood and a touch of bitterness, and are happy to let a cask-strength clairin open up in the glass.
Beginners, anyone sensitive to 50%+ ABV, or drinkers expecting sweet, rounded sippers; also those who dislike saline, bitter or industrial notes in their rum.
How is Velier Arawaks Vieux Vaval (First Release) 2015 rated?
RumX's 0–10 scale is strict — 8.2 lands squarely in the "Very good" band. 95% of tasters rate it Good or better; only 0% rate it below average. See the full rating guide →
Rum reviews
A selection of the most popular reviews from our community. You can view the complete list in our app.
Review by Jakub Kula
very nice surprice for me
Review by zabo
Franconian Tasting Gang on 23.11.24 at Jarek. For me, this was the negative surprise of the evening, and by far the loser of the evening. I don't really need to have it in my glass again.
Review by John Coffey
J'ai adoré ce boisé en bouche tout le long ..
Review by F.L.O.
The first impression is still a little spongy. Typical Vaval on the nose, just a little weaker than a fresh unaged distillate. Then a little irritating on the tongue... The alcohol is present but well integrated. The floral notes are clearly reduced. This makes it more accessible, but also somehow more boring than the unaged or 4y. Nevertheless, still a good rum. "Won't and can't" describes it quite well. I'll have to try it again... not that I'm doing it an injustice.
Review by LukaŽiga
8,4:On the nose, it is estery with overripe tropical, dried fruits like raisins, prunes and vegetal with herbal notes.The wood is roasted. On aeration, the sugarcane is more evident, swimming in caramel, flowery, some medicinal notes with nail polish, perhaps glue.Citrus pleasantly rounds up the notes. 8,2:On the palate, the attack is stormy, unbalanced, funky with gemischt of different notes like spices, vegetal, salty, woody and fruity.It is bitter with an olive, wax, acidic with a vinegar, roasted and resinous wood, dry.Some overripe estery tropical and dried fruits round it a bit.After some rest, it becomes balanced with citrus, floral, herbal and dark notes like roasted nuts, chocolate, licorice, some caramel. The sugarcane is mineral and minty, the overripe pineapple tasty, some tea is obvious. 8,3:The finish is a bit rounder, long, dry, there come some more industrial notes like wax, rubber, bicycle tube, even dirt.The sugarcane is mineral, vegetal, the wood earthy and roasted. Fruit spectre is lingering from the palate.Bitterness continues.... Edit: 14.12.-more resting, oxidation balances the palate, new notes could be noticed like vanilla custard, marzipan, pastry, even cola
Review by Maxime Clr 🇫🇷
Bouteille sur les épices, la colle, les fruits tropicaux. Sympa mais retombe trop vite, finale assez courte.
Review by Mike H.
82 points. Tasted at the WLP 2023.
Review by Dr.Django
Grundsätzlich gefallen mir die Rums aus Haiti sehr. Dieser Rum wurde im Vorfeld sehr gehyped. Er wird seinem Hype überhaupt nicht gerecht. Schon an der Nase sehr alkoholisch stechend, was sich am Gaumen, bis zum Abgang durchzieht. Das dreckig fruchtige Profil wird von den Kräutern und Pflanzen untergraben.
Review by Schnubbi
Not really bad, quite tasty. Unfortunately, there is hardly anything left of the original DNA of the unripened Vaval, in this respect I liked RX8887 with its green olive even better. In the end, it was unfortunately a little unspectacular for me and did not meet my expectations. You can try it, but you don't have to buy it.
Review by Pavel Spacek
WLP tastings
Review by Fuwi
I'm Dreikampf Vieux Sajous/ Casimir/ Vaval belegt dieser Kandidat den zweiten Platz. Die Nase war eher nicht einladend, sehr alkoholisch, verbranntes Gummi und eher penetrant, unangenehm. Auf der Zunge dafür sehr überraschend mild, nahezu floral. Aber natürlich sehr agricole lastig und grasig, bringt mehr Bums und Spaß auf der Zunge mit als der Casimir bei identischer Reifezeit und weniger Alkohol
Community purchases
32 bottles logged by 52,000+ RumX members. The ratio of closed / opened / emptied, indicates whether this rum is meant to be drunk or is a collector's item.
Also on the wishlist of 2 members.
About the Arawaks distillery
The Arawaks distillery is located in Haiti. Rums from Arawaks have been reviewed 493 times with an average of 8.0/10.
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