Planteray Barbade Foundation 2004

Barbade Foundation is a Maison Ferrand release under the Planteray name, a 2004 vintage Barbados single cask aged twenty years. Ferrand's house style runs sweeter than the island's additive-free producers, and this sits among the rounder, more comforting Bajan bottlings, aged long and pitched at drinkers who want classic island flavours at full strength without harshness.

Distilled from molasses and matured in ex-bourbon oak, it shows the textbook Barbados register turned generous. The aroma carries coconut, caramel, chocolate and oak, the palate brings coconut and woody fruit with a bourbon-like sweetness, and the finish stays woody and coconut-rich with spice and honey. Dried fruit, vanilla and toffee fill it out in classic Bajan fashion, the coconut intensifying as it opens. At twenty years the oak stays measured rather than dominant, a relaxed and easy-drinking sipper, sweeter in feel than a Foursquare, that carries its 55.5% with comfort.