Crucial Drinks Long Pond Rum & Cane 1998 Rum

Crucial Drinks bottled this Long Pond under its Rum & Cane label as a single cask from the 1998 vintage, drawing on the Trelawny Wedderburn house known for funky, fruit-forward and sometimes polarising rum. Twenty-three years of ageing in ex-bourbon oak push this one toward the fruitier, more harmonious side of the distillery.

The nose is generous with red fruits, banana, orange peel and a caramelised note, and the palate keeps that fruit going, banana and raspberry alongside red fruits and pineapple. The finish brings oak, more caramelised sweetness and baking spice. Bottled at 51.2% without added sugar, it shows Long Pond after long maturation has softened the brine and rubber that can mark younger expressions into something rounded and fruit-led. A characterful old single cask that rewards drinkers who want Long Pond's fruit without its sharpest edges.