Clément Vieux Colonne Créole

Clement is a 300-year Martinique estate, now under GBH, with a strong line of aged agricole, and this Vieux Colonne Creole is its column-still spirit shown light and bright. Distilled from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice rather than molasses, it is bottled with no added sugar, so the freshness is all cane and the structure all cask.

Ten years in ex-bourbon oak under tropical heat gives more maturity than the modest strength suggests, yet the bottle stays brighter and drier than the richer XO. The nose leads on vanilla, young wood and fresh sugarcane, the palate on orange, pear and apricot with a dry, vegetal cane core, and the finish turns woody, lemony and gently smoky. At a soft 40.7% and unsweetened, it makes an excellent everyday step up into aged agricole, best taken neat.