ALBION AN 1983 17 YEARS OLD 40% VELIER

Distilled in 1983, aged 17 years and bottled in November 2000.

One of 2749 bottles.

THE BRAND

Albion is a small village in Guyana, the territory where the Albion Sugar Estate is located, currently owned by Guysuco. The distillery closed in 1968, but unlike others, its stills were never transferred. By the way the production of the "Albion style", continued at Uitvlugt distillery, that after assuming the rights for the distillation, chose the versatility of the Savalle still with four columns, able of producing nine different marks, including the AN that identifies the "Albion style". The acronyms used by Velier are AN (Albion 1983, Albion 1989, Albion 1994) and AW (Albion 1986), distilled respectively in wooden continuous still and coffee still.

Even though at Uitvlugt distillery there was also a wooden coffee still dating back to the 80s, due to missing information and altered translations occurred here and there over the years, there is little precise information arrived to the present day. The wooden continuous still associated with Uitvlugt, and last still of this kind in the world still living, is the one that was transferred at Enmore distillery when it closed in 1993, although almost all the vintages predate this.

The AW (coffee still) mark is still an enigma.

Uitvlugt closed in 2000 and its still operating stills transferred to the Diamond Distillery. There are many mysteries associated with this distillery and the fate of its alembics, and all we know is that they were able to produce legendary rum styles. Also the marks used by Gargano on the labels only serve to feed the myth, making Velier’s Albion, one of the most sought after and iconic bottles in rum history.

THE BOTTLER

Velier was founded by the Chaix family in Genova in 1947 as a small traditional company specialised in the importation and distribution of wines, champagnes and spirits. In 1983, a young Luca Gargano, former brand ambassador for Saint James at that time, acquired shares in Velier. Under his influence the company began spacialising in the importation of outstanding spirits exclusively destinated to the Italian market. By the early 90s Luca heard about a legendary stock of Saint James rum dating back probably to 1885 and bottled in 1952. After a complex negotiation, he finally managed to acquire the entire stock. This was only the first of a list of legendary selections to come in the following years.