R&B/hip-hop artist Melky Jean debuts Haiti-inspired rum brand. Here’s where to find it.

This is “Small Bites,” a South Florida Sun Sentinel feature with tidbits on the food and beverage scene.

WHAT: Melky Jean’s grandmother made moonshine back in Haiti. Her mother made kremas, a Haitian liqueur. Now, the singer-songwriter is the third generation of women in her famous family — hip-hop legend Wyclef Jean is her older brother — to get into the spirits business.

Saint Sauveur 1972 Haitian Heritage Rum is the Grammy-nominated artist’s newest venture, and the name raises a glass to a bit of history.

“I was looking for a story to tell,” Jean tells the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “I wanted to reclaim something, and I realized that growing up in the United States, being born in Brooklyn, I always knew what the Mayflower was. But then I started thinking, what was the first refugee ship that brought over Haitians to the United States? … We helped build cities like Chicago. You can find our influences all around America, but there wasn’t really a Haitian American story that had ever been told to me growing up, and I started to do my research.

“That’s when I found the name for the first documented Haitian refugee ship, and that name was Saint Sauveur. [In] 1972, the ship came aground in Pompano Beach, Florida. And that year, 1972, just stuck with me because it’s also the year that my mother came to the United States,” she adds. “So the Saint Sauveur 1972 Haitian Heritage Rum is named after the first documented Haitian refugee ship to land ashore in the United States.”

THE DEBUT: Jean, who lives in Tamarac with rapper/producer husband Supreme C, launched Saint Sauveur in May, which was Haitian Heritage Month. The Miami Grand Prix was taking place at the time, so she brought rum to the racing events.

“Everything that I put into this brand was very intentional, and we wanted to debut during Haitian Heritage Month … The Grand Prix is happening in Florida at the same time, and so we wanted to be able to introduce what I call affordable luxury. When people think about the Grand Prix, they think about luxury, luxury, luxury, luxury, luxury. But I feel like luxury is something that everyone should be able to afford.”

COST: 2-Year Aged Rum is $37.99; 4-Year Aged Reserve Rum is $49.99

THE FLAVOR PROFILE: “What I love about both of them is the notes that we created mimic my mother’s Kremas. Without me giving away some of my secrets, you’re going to get hints of vanilla, you’re going to get hints of coconut, you’re going to get hints of citrus. From what I can see, people are actually chilling the 2-Year and doing it as a shot. That’s how smooth it is, and it’s sweet, but it’s not so sweet that it’s overbearing. … The 4-Year is a bit more robust … you have your cigar smokers who tend to like to drink whiskey and cognac, and now these guys have been coming over to the rum. They’ve been coming over to our 4-Year because … of the smokiness of it, but then it has this whole refined part of it that literally takes you to the Caribbean. You’re still getting the hints of the coconut, you’re still getting the hints of the vanilla, the warmth of it. However, it’s not as sweet. The alcohol content is a little bit more. That’s the one that you want to put a huge cube in, and you just want to sip it.”

WHERE: Online at saintsauveur1972.com and at retailers including Total Wine & More, Casa de Montecristo Cigar Lounge & Bar in Boca Raton, Tri County Discount Liquors in Margate, Macabi Havana Lounge in Fort Lauderdale, and Rare Collects Liquor & Wine in Miami. Prices may vary.

EXTRA TIDBITS:

• Star power — Jean has worked with Beyoncé, Shakira, Patti LaBelle and Carlos Santana. Her songs have appeared on soundtracks for movies such as “Love Jones,” “Two Can Play That Game” and “Love & Basketball.” There was also a music video in 2000 for the Wyclef Jean banger, “It Doesn’t Matter,” where she was featured along with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Jean once performed in a sibling duo with brother Farel Jean, providing most of the music for HBO’s “Disappearing Acts.”
• Already Award-Winning — Saint Sauveur 1972 Haitian Heritage Rum won two bronze awards (Flavored Rum and Aged-Rum 5 Years and Under) from the recent Miami Global Spirit Awards.
• The SoFlo Factor — “When I first started dating Supreme, back in 2006, it was the first time that I had ever seen a refugee. Because local news in Florida is very different than local news in New Jersey and New York City, where I’m from. I remember … watching the news and a boatload of refugees came in. You had women with their children jumping into the water. You had pregnant women. And that evoked something in me that changed my entire life. The rum itself is made less than 100 miles of where they landed in Florida. The rum is made here in Florida. The Saint Sauveur story is a Haitian American story in this world that tries to divide us and separate us. My job is to tell a story that is uniquely ours. It’s a Haitian American story. I am Haitian, and I am American. Distilling the rum here in Florida is very much part of the story.”
• The Carma Foundation — Jean created the Carma Foundation to help women throughout the Caribbean, the United States and now in South America. “I always say, if you empower a woman, you empower a family, you empower a village, you empower a city,” she explains. Though she prefers not to talk about it, proceeds from Saint Sauveur will go to the Carma Foundation. “I want you to enjoy the rum. Because you enjoy the rum, you’re doing good without even knowing you’re doing good.”

INFORMATION: saintsauveur1972.com and melkyjean.com