Clarendon Plantation (Duvel Batch No5) The Barrel Society 2013

Part of The Barrel Society line, this Duvel beer-cask batch comes from Maison Ferrand, the French Plantation house known for mainstream, cocktail-friendly rums and an openly used dosage. It is a 2013 Clarendon, distilled on a Vendome pot still and aged in ex-bourbon before the beer cask, then reduced to a gentle 42.9% from a single cask.

Clarendon is a workhorse Jamaican distillery, but here the funk sits well in the background. The aroma leans on brown sugar, caramel and orange, the palate on lime, orange, a syrupy sweetness and more brown sugar, with the finish echoing orange, caramel, brown sugar and a woody edge. The beer cask reads as a quiet mirabelle-tinged note rather than a loud statement. This is a consensual, soft and approachable Jamaican rather than a funky Trelawny bruiser, an easy after-dinner pour for those who prefer their island rum rounded and sweet leaning.