Haitian-based King Henri Christophe Spirits has signed a nationwide distribution agreement with Park Street Imports in the US.
The recently-founded distiller produces a base spirit using pure sugarcane juice and caramel in Haiti before shipping it to the US for blending with unspecified six- and 12-year-old American whiskies. The first expression in the line-up, King Henri Christophe 6-Year Aged Whiskey, has an ABV of 40% and will hit shelves across the US from the start of April.
The arrangement with Park Street, announced this week, will allow for the monthly production of “up to 50,000 cases” of the Haitian spirit and aged American whiskey blend, according to a statement. Global Drinks Intel has contacted both companies for more specific details on where the iteration will be available.
Owned by Emmanuel Fritz Paret and Dr. Rudolph Moise, King Henri Christophe is due to release a second whiskey in December called King Henri Christophe, House of Clicquot Reserve. The high-end expression will, according to Park Street, contain a 200-year-old spirit believed to have been created for King Henri Christophe, the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti in the early 1800s.
Late last year, the American whiskey category was augmented definitions-wise, when the country’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau approved the classifications of both ‘American single malt’ and ‘straight American single malt’.
