Flor de Caña Selected by La Maison Du Whisky 1997

Flor de Caña is the Nicaraguan house known for slow ageing and a genuine no added sugar policy, and this single cask, selected by La Maison du Whisky, shows that drier, cleaner side at twenty five years old. Distilled in 1997 from molasses on a column still, it has been finished in Cognac casks and bottled at a poised 47%, trading power for refinement.

The long tropical maturation could have turned bitter, but the wood instead expresses itself through beautiful vanilla, caramel and dried fruit, with the Cognac finish lending a fruity, elegant lift. The palate is sweet but dry edged, with dried fruit, caramel and chocolate before a finish of caramel, vanilla, wood and spice. Because Flor de Caña genuinely avoids dosage, that sweetness is barrel and age derived rather than added, a meaningful distinction at this level. It drinks as an elegant, Cognac inflected step up for those moving into older, drier Spanish style rum, prized for finesse over force.