Distillerie d’Indochine Sampan Cellar Series (Cognac Cask) 2019

Distillerie d'Indochine makes Sampan in Vietnam from fresh pressed sugarcane juice, an agricole style rum well beyond the French AOC, and this Cellar Series from the 2019 vintage was aged four years before a Cognac cask finish. Distilled on a column still, it keeps a clean cane base that the cask then sweetens and softens.

At a gentler 44.9 percent, the Cognac influence reads more clearly than in the cask strength siblings. The nose is fruity and sweet with Cognac, vanilla and orchard fruit, the palate turns woody with Cognac, vanilla and fruit, and the finish carries fruit, vanilla, a Cognac note and nutmeg. The result is a soft, approachable agricole style rum where the wine cask leads and the cane plays a supporting role. Unsweetened and easy drinking, it is a mild, fruit forward single cask for drinkers who like their cane juice rum gently aged and Cognac inflected rather than grassy and raw.