CDI Boulet de Canon 11

Boulet de Canon 11 is a deliberate experiment from French house Compagnie des Indes, taking a light Panamanian column still rum and steering it somewhere far stranger than the smooth Spanish style usually allows. The molasses base is the canvas, but smoke is the subject, and the underlying rum all but disappears beneath it.

Expect roasted paprika, chili heat and cigar ash on the nose, with leather, woody char and a peppery, smouldering finish that can numb the tip of the tongue. This is a spiced and flavoured bottling rather than a transparent cane spirit, so anyone hoping to taste a clean aged Panama should look elsewhere. As a curiosity pour or a companion to the barbecue it makes more sense, a liquid campfire built for drinkers who already love peat and want to see how far smoke can be pushed into rum at 46%.