This is not the rum from the song in Robert Louis Stevenson’s book, Treasure Island, but for me, all rums have that distant echo. This rum drinks to a different tune. It is distilled from fresh sugarcane juice on Guadelopue, a Caribbean Island located in the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles. It is an overseas region of France and hence part of the European Union. This connection is critical to the success of this spirit, for without a French connection it would not exist.
Word has it that the distiller could not pay his debts in currency so he paid in rum. It was shipped to the famous cognac house, Pierre Ferrand, where it spent its last years. This single cask expression is actually finished in two different casks before being married together. A cognac and the more unusual choice of a sweet Tokay wine cask. This produces an agricole that has very unique qualities on the palate. Here are the tasting notes from TD’s Whisky Editor, Stephen Winch:
The Nose: tropical fruit, biscuit, muscovado sugar, touch of toffee.
The Palate: lightly sweet, mango, grassy coconut, delicate wood.
The Finish: wood spices touch of anise.
This is definitely one to get. They will not be making another like it.
