Clément Canne bleue vieux (20 Anniversaire) 2020

This is Clement's Canne Bleue bottled as a vieux, drawn from the estate's signature blue cane and carrying the Martinique AOC, the world's only rum appellation. The 20th anniversary 2020 release spent three years in oak, the minimum for the vieux tier, distilled from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice with no added sugar, as the AOC requires.

The creole column keeps a grassy, vegetal core that the bourbon casks round out with vanilla and dried fruit. Soft, approachable and gently spiced, it shows cooked pear, ripe red fruit and young wood without much oak grip, a comfortable step into aged agricole at 42%. It rewards a little rest in the glass, where the cane character and a touch of douceur come forward. An honest, affordable introduction to Canne Bleue with age behind it, happy neat on a summer evening.