Isautier Louis & Charles – Rhum vieux édition spéciale

The Louis & Charles edition is an 18 year old from Isautier, the long-standing Reunion distillery, built from a blend of molasses and sugarcane juice and matured in ex-bourbon oak. Reunion sits outside the agricole AOC, but the cane-juice component pushes this toward an agricole style, and the bottling lands as a relaxed, mature sipper at a comfortable 45%.

Column distillation and the dual feedstock give it a foot in both worlds, the nose carrying caramel, wood, vanilla and dried fruit. The palate shows the agricole side with grass and a vegetal edge alongside caramel and toffee, with orange-liqueur and candied fruit notes some drinkers pick up, the finish on caramel, vanilla, wood and a fresh lift. The added-sugar status is unstated and the texture reads slightly syrupy. It will not deliver cask-strength punch, but it makes an easy, lightly complex pour, good with a cigar or simply on its own.