Alcoholes Del Istmo Plantation Vintage Grand Terroir 2006

This Grand Terroir 2006 comes from Alcoholes del Istmo in Panama, bottled by Maison Ferrand under its Plantation line, a thirteen year old vintage at forty one point six percent. Ferrand is celebrated for mainstream, cocktail-friendly rum finished in Cognac casks in France, and openly uses dosage, so this is best understood as a polished, gently sweetened expression rather than a purist one.

Column-distilled from molasses and double-aged, first in the tropics and then in Cognac wood in France, it carries a clear fruity-vanilla signature, with pineapple, vanilla, chocolate and cinnamon on the nose and palate, and a woody, apple-and-spice finish. The Cognac-cask polish and light sweetening make it round and very accessible, a reliable everyday sipper with good length and value. It favours smooth, fruit-forward drinkability over dry intensity, very much in keeping with the house approach.