A.V. Wees JAVA BARU Arac

A.V. Wees bottle this Java Baru as an arrack, the historic Indonesian molasses spirit fermented with red rice and long bound up with the Dutch rum trade. Released at 40% with no age statement, it is offered through a category that sits adjacent to rum, and it earns its place as a window onto one of the oldest cane spirit traditions in the world.

Arrack is an acquired taste, and this bottling does not soften it: the nose and palate are led by a distinct arrack funk with apple, a petrol like note and an assertively alcoholic, solvent character. Rather than thin or watered down, it comes across fuller and more pungent than expected, the rice ferment funk clearly present. At 40% it is unmistakably arrack, a divisive and idiosyncratic spirit best approached by the curious and the adventurous rather than anyone seeking a smooth, conventional rum.