Bielle LMDW 2001

This is an older Bielle from Marie Galante, a 2001 vintage aged fourteen years and selected by La Maison du Whisky, distilled from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice and bottled at 45%. Bielle is known for its cane work and high-proof blancs, but this shows the distillery's more contemplative aged side.

Long tropical maturation in ex-bourbon oak has given it real depth for the proof, with raisin, floral notes and tobacco on the nose, a palate of caramel, licorice and spice, and a finish of dried fruit, spice and a cognac-like warmth. Drinkers note it eats well over time in the glass, the fruit, spice and wood settling into balance, and that it drinks above its 45%. It is an elegant, soft and well-integrated aged agricole, closer in feel to an older brandy than a fresh blanc, ideal for slow sipping by drinkers who like fruit-and-oak driven cane juice rum.