SAVANNA 1999 20 YEARS OLD 57% VELIER - VILLA PARADISETTO

This is one of six exclusive releases, distilled in 1999, aged in tropical weather and bottled at full proof in 2020 to commemorate Velier’s historical seat, “Villa Paradisetto”. The label was created by the artist and long-time collaborator Warren Khong, who also created the labels for the Drop by Drop series to commemorate Velier's 70th anniversary and for some Karuizawa limited edition selected by La Maison du Whisky.

THE BRAND

The Savanna Distillery orginally born as sugar factory, was founded in 1870 by Olive Lemarchand in the volcanic Réunion Island, in the heart of the Indian Ocean. Located east of Madagascar, the island is a French overseas protectorate and enjoys a superb climate, turquoise blue seas and a rich flora and fauna.

The most cultivated sugar cane is the R570, supplied to the distillery by the adjacent sugar factory Bois Rouge.

The first distillations date back to 1950, thanks to his French onwer Emile Hugot. In 1992 the distillery was moved and incorporated into the production area of Saint Andrè in Bois-Rouge, home of the sugar factory. Passed through various ownership till the current one, Tereos, the Savanna brand was officially founded in 2003.

Savanna mainly produces rum from modern distillation columns, but also from an old Savalle copper still dating back to 1950s and a tiny double-distillation pot still. Is one of the very few distilleries in the world that distills rum from both cane juice and molasses, producing by this one, under the guidance of master distiller Laurent Broc, the ‘Traditionnel’ and the ‘Grand Arôme’ style, a rum from molasses produced with long and special fermentations, almost disappeared in the Carribean.