Plantation Single Cask 2002

Plantation is the rum brand of Maison Ferrand, the French house known for double ageing in cognac casks and for openly using dosage, so this is not a purist's dry pour. Distilled in Trinidad in 2002 and presented as a single cask aged fifteen years, it reflects the island's predominant style, light and clean column still rum in the Spanish-heritage idiom rather than the heavy Caroni archetype.

Matured in ex-bourbon oak from molasses, it shows spice, soft florals and vanilla on the nose, then molasses, oak and a rounded sweetness on the palate, closing with cherry, mint and wood. At 43.2% it is approachable and undemanding, with a slightly synthetic note some tasters pick up and a TDL-like mintiness running through. As a Ferrand bottling the sweetness is part of the picture, so this reads as an easy, gently sweet sipper rather than a rugged single cask.