Grays New Grove Savoir-Faire Rozelieures (Whisky cask finish) 2013

New Grove is the rum line from Grays on Mauritius, and this Savoir-Faire release is a 2013 distillate finished in a cask from the French distillery Rozelieures. Despite the agricole heading, this is a molasses rum, not cane juice, aged eight years and bottled at 46%, so the honest framing is a molasses rum wearing a whisky finish.

The base spirit shows woody, earthy, lightly fruity and cereal notes, but the Rozelieures cask asserts itself firmly, bringing peat, smoke and big tannins that can override the rum underneath. Coffee, dried fruit and a roasted, smoky finish round it out. It is a genuinely divisive bottling whose appeal depends on how much you want the whisky side to lead, best suited to drinkers who enjoy lightly peated malt and are curious how it sits on top of aged molasses rum. Go in expecting the cask to talk loudest.