Dugas La Maison du Rhum #4 2009

This is the Paraguay entry in La Maison du Rhum's numbered series, bottled by Dugas from a 2009 distillation and carrying twelve years of age at 42%. Unusually it is made from sugarcane honey rather than straight molasses, column distilled and matured in Ex-Bourbon oak, a single origin window onto South American rum.

The cane honey base and long ageing give a savoury, oak driven profile, the nose roasted and woody with molasses and leather, the palate light bodied with tobacco, wood and a nutty character, then a finish of dried fruit, vanilla, tobacco and a touch of smoke. With no confirmed sweetening, the dryness is genuine, and the chief criticism is weight, the relatively low strength leaves it tasting a little thin for its years. It is an honest, characterful single origin bottling for drinkers who enjoy dry, tobacco and leather rums and the chance to taste Paraguay, even if it would arguably show more at a higher proof.