A.H. Riise Santos Dumont XO Elixir

Santos Dumont XO Elixir is a flavoured rum bottled by the Danish house A.H. Riise, made from Brazilian cane honey, concentrated cane juice reduced to a syrup. It is worth being clear up front that this is not a dry cachaca or a traditional sipping rum, it is a sweetened, flavoured spirit pitched squarely at drinkers who enjoy a dessert in a glass.

The profile is all soft sweetness, honey, butterscotch and maple on the nose, then orange candy, caramel and coconut across a syrupy, gentle palate that finishes sweet and warm. At 40% it is smooth and easy, with the added sweetness and flavouring, not the cask, driving the character. Framed honestly, it is a guilty-pleasure bottle, best enjoyed with dessert or over ice rather than judged against a dry, oak-aged rum, and it makes no pretence of being anything else.