Cane Island

Cane Island bottles this eight year old as a straightforward, approachable Venezuelan ron, the kind of soft vanilla forward pour the Spanish style is built on. Distilled from molasses on a column still and aged for eight years in ex bourbon casks, it sits squarely in the smooth, dessert leaning camp that Venezuela does so well, with coffee, toffee and vanilla on the nose rounded out by dark chocolate.

The palate is sweet and woody, vanilla and mocha carrying through to a soft, cocoa dusted finish where a little of the alcohol still shows. Character here comes from the barrel and an evident sweetness rather than from any heavy spirit, so it reads as a gentle, rounded sipper rather than a deep one. For drinkers who enjoy vanilla rich Venezuelan profiles but want something uncomplicated and sensibly priced, it does the job neat or stretched into a mixer.