Dillon Dillon Rhum Très Vieux

Dillon is a Martinique distillery working within the island's rum AOC, and its Rhum Tres Vieux is made from fresh pressed sugar cane juice on a creole column, the configuration that keeps grassy cane character in the spirit. Aged five years in ex bourbon and bottled unsweetened at an easy 43%, it shows a foot in both camps, part youthful and lively, part settled aged agricole.

The nose leans woody, vegetal and earthy with a fruity edge, and the palate carries that oak alongside sugar cane and a little bitterness, the cane juice backbone still clear under the barrel. The finish brings toasted wood, caramel and spice. It is an honest, rustic vieux rather than a polished one, an unsweetened and characterful introduction to aged Martinique rum at a gentle strength.