Bayou Single Batch No. #3 2016

Bayou is one of Louisiana's better known rum distilleries, and this Single Batch No. 3 is a 2016 vintage molasses rum distilled on a pot still, aged five years in ex-bourbon wood and bottled at 43.4%. It belongs to the growing American small batch rum movement, a pot still spirit that aims for flavour and intensity rather than the soft, light style often associated with the United States.

The pot still distillation gives it body and aromatic reach: the nose is intense, fruity and spicy with vanilla, the palate turns spicy and layered with tropical fruit and an arrack like funk, and the finish carries fruit and oak. Tasters rate it a clear step up from the distillery's entry expressions, a more characterful showing of what Bayou can do. At 43.4% it drinks with decent weight and an offbeat, funky fruitiness, a worthwhile look at molasses based American rum done in a fuller, pot still style.