Neisson 21 Years (Batch 2) 2000

Neisson is a small family-owned Martinique distillery, founded in 1931 and long a favourite. This twenty one year old, a single cask from the 2000 vintage bottled at cask strength, is among the most serious expressions the house has released, made from fresh-pressed sugarcane juice rather than molasses.

Two decades of mostly tropical ageing in ex-bourbon oak give notable depth without heaviness: a nose of oak, licorice, cinnamon and flowers, a palate of vanilla, wood, roasted nuts and tobacco, and a long finish of wood, tobacco, sugarcane and praline. The cask strength carries all of it with intensity but no aggression, the floral, fruity cane core still legible under the age. There is no added sugar under AOC rules. This is a benchmark long-aged agricole, balanced and profound, the kind of bottle made for slow, undistracted neat sipping.