Clément Secrets de fûts (Riche)

Clement is a three hundred year old Martinique estate, now part of the GBH group and distilled at Distillerie du Simon. Secrets de Futs Riche is the wood-forward member of a trio that also runs to Gourmand and Boise, each leaning a different way on cask character. It is made from fresh-pressed sugarcane juice rather than molasses.

Distilled through a creole column in the house style and matured in oak, the Riche expression pushes the sweeter, rounder side of the cask, with vanilla, cocoa and ripe fruit on both nose and palate and a smooth, dried-fruit finish. There is no added sugar under AOC rules, so the richness here comes from the wood and the cane rather than dosage. Approachable enough to drink neat, it also holds up in a stirred agricole cocktail.