Berry Bros & Rudd Clarendon Berry‘s Best Jamaican Rum (60 ans LMDW) 2003

Berry Bros and Rudd, the venerable London merchant, selected this 2003 Clarendon for a sixtieth-anniversary release with La Maison du Whisky. Clarendon supplies much of Jamaica's pot still character, and this twelve year old leans into the drier, more classical side of the island rather than the wildest funk, bottled at cask strength 55.4% without added sugar.

The aroma runs to overripe fruit, pear and lime with an olive-brine twist, while the palate keeps the fruit warm and slightly metallic. Ex-bourbon maturation lends cedar and burnt sugar to a finish that stays fruity but firm. This is honest, undosed Jamaican pot still, fruit and wood at full strength without heavy funk or sweetness, the kind of bottling that suits a drinker ready to move past the gateway expressions toward something more serious and a little austere. A rest in the glass helps it open.