Dzama Vanilla 10 ans 2000

Dzama Vanilla 10 ans is made by the Dzama distillery on the island of Nosy Be off northern Madagascar, a producer that built its name on vanilla infused rums drawing on the island's famous spice trade. This release carries a decade of age and a 2000 vintage, and as the name promises it places vanilla squarely at the centre of the experience.

The base is a molasses rum rested in ex-bourbon wood, which adds a layer of soft oak beneath the dominant sweet vanilla pod character. At 45% it has a little more weight than a standard island rum, and brown sugar sweetness runs through the palate into a long, creamy, vanilla led finish. This is unashamedly a flavoured rum rather than a dry aged sipper, and it earns its keep as a warming, dessert leaning pour for dark winter evenings.