Renegade Pearls- Études 2021

Renegade distills on Grenada from fresh-pressed sugarcane juice, an agricole-style rum that cannot use the protected French-island term. This Pearls Etudes from 2021 is a young, lightly aged pot still spirit bottled at 55 percent, an experimental release that pushes raw cane character to the fore.

Pot still distilled and given brief time in ex-bourbon wood, it is deeply savoury and wild: green olive, vegetal and fermented notes on the nose, with sugarcane, olive and brine on the palate over light oak and a touch of coconut. The finish is fresh, fermented, peppery and salty. The truffle and brine make it genuinely polarizing, the kind of rum that splits a room, but drinkers into clairin, Mhoba and funky agricoles will find its raw cane energy fascinating. Best approached with curiosity rather than expectation.