Bielle Brut de Fût 2014

This Brut de Fut from Bielle on Marie-Galante is a seven year aged agricole made from fresh sugarcane juice under Guadeloupe's IGP. From the 2014 vintage and bottled unsweetened at cask strength, 56.5 percent, it shows that high proof need not mean harshness.

Column distilled and matured in ex-bourbon wood, it opens on a fresh flower meadow of honey, grass and mint, with candied fruit and well-integrated oak. The palate stays honeyed and fruity, the spice and wood arriving on the finish alongside vanilla and a grassy echo. For all its strength the alcohol sits quietly, the rum drinking soft, sweetly fruity and elegant. A balanced, very approachable cask strength agricole that puts honeyed cane and polished oak ahead of raw power.