MaloRhum Kaktus’

MaloRhum is a French bottler of rhum arrange, the tradition of steeping fruit and botanicals in rum, and this Kaktus release is themed around prickly pear cactus fruit. Built on a cane-juice base distilled on a column still, it is a flavoured, sweetened spirit rather than a dry agricole.

The nose is fruity and vegetal with a burnt-sugar note, and the palate turns vegetal and syrupy, the texture and sweetness of a maceration coming through clearly. At 35% it is gentle in strength, and the prickly-pear theme gives it a distinctive, slightly offbeat fruit character. This is one for the curious, a novelty arrange to sip chilled or stir into a cocktail rather than a serious sipping rum, openly sweet and unusual in flavour. Approached as a flavoured curiosity, it is an easy, characterful pour.