Carrere Montebello Le brut de fût 2014

A Brut de Fut from Carrere, the Basse-Terre distillery behind Montebello in Guadeloupe, a vintage 2014 aged ten years. Distilled from fresh-pressed cane juice and matured in ex-bourbon oak, it is bottled unsweetened at cask strength of 46.9%. Guadeloupe falls under IGP rather than the Martinique AOC, but this is true cane-juice rum.

A decade of tropical ageing has given it depth while keeping the cane intact. The nose is fresh and woody with sugar cane and citrus, and the palate is woody and fresh with an oily texture and roasted notes. The finish brings wood, coffee, sugar cane and orange. It is a well-mastered cask-strength expression for the Montebello range, the spice and wood supported by fresh, herbaceous notes that head toward gourmand sugar cane, with a touch more power than the younger releases. Honest and unsweetened, it is a satisfying, balanced aged agricole for unhurried neat sipping.