Chalong Bay Distillery Lunar Series Single Cask Ex-Jamaïcain Foundations 2024

This Lunar Series release comes from Chalong Bay, a Phuket distillery that makes agricole style rum from fresh Thai sugar cane juice. A single cask from its Foundations line, finished in a cask that previously held Jamaican rum, it brings together Thai cane terroir and a borrowed funk in one ambitious, full strength bottling.

Distilled on a column still and bottled at cask strength 62.5% with no added sugar, it puts fresh sugar cane front and centre, joined by bright tropical fruit and citrus and a distinctly medicinal, almost briny edge that hints at its Jamaican cask influence. The palate adds toasted and candied fruit notes, while the finish turns mineral and floral with a touch of vanilla. Powerful and vibrant, this is a rum for those who enjoy grassy cane juice spirit with an extra layer of ester driven funk, best met neat in small measures or reduced gently with water.