Famille Ricci Rare Single Cask Rum (Barbade 2009)

Famille Ricci, the French bottler, has selected this 2009 Barbados single cask, sourced from WIRD, and bottled it at a hefty 63 percent without reduction. It shows the island's classic style at full strength after 16 years, a dry and unsweetened reading of aged Barbados.

The nose is rich with hazelnut, coconut and vanilla, and the palate centres on milk chocolate, while the finish runs toasted with butterscotch and roasted almonds. Distilled from molasses and matured in ex-bourbon oak, this leans into the nutty, chocolate-and-coconut depth that long ageing brings to Barbados rum, the high strength concentrating rather than overwhelming the flavour. Dry and additive-free, it is a confident cask-strength Bajan that rewards a drop of water to open up its dessert-like richness, the kind of single cask that shows what an island-aged Barbados can offer at full proof.