Dillon Dillon VSOP

Dillon VSOP is a Martinique rhum agricole carrying the island's AOC weight, distilled at the Dillon estate from fresh-pressed sugarcane juice rather than molasses and rested four years in ex-bourbon casks. As a Vieux tier bottling it sits just past the three year line, which is where the grassy snap of cane begins to fold into oak. It makes a sensible first agricole, honest and unsweetened, showing the wood and cane character without asking for much patience.

The creole column keeps the spirit low in proof and high in vegetal cane congeners, so the nose runs woody and oak-leaning with vanilla and a touch of cinnamon, sometimes a faint coffee edge. The palate stays round rather than spiky, sugarcane and vanilla over toasted oak, finishing toasted and lightly spicy with the cane still present. Comfortable at 43%, it works neat or in a simple Ti' Punch where the dryness keeps things lively.