CDI 5 years

CDI 5 Years is an entry blend from Compagnie des Indes, the respected French house whose single casks run natural but whose few introductory blends are lightly and openly dosed. Built from Jamaican stock, reportedly Clarendon and Worthy Park, and bottled at five years old, this is pitched squarely as a soft first step into the island style rather than a statement of funk.

Distilled on pot and column stills from molasses and matured in ex-bourbon oak, it carries a small amount of added sugar that rounds the edges and emphasises sweetness over ester intensity. Expect banana, licorice and a touch of glue on the nose, then a sweet, honeyed palate with pepper and spice, closing smoky, peppery and tea-like. At an easy 43% and with that gentle dosage, it is honest about being approachable: a training-wheels Jamaican for newcomers who find Hampden and overproof whites too much, not a dry, high-ester sipper for the seasoned crowd.