Fortin Extra Añejo 8 Años

Fortin Extra Añejo 8 Años is a column still rum from Paraguay, distilled from sugar cane honey, the concentrated cane syrup, and aged eight years in ex-bourbon oak before bottling at 40%. Paraguay is a rare sight on rum shelves, and Fortin is its best known name, here offering a soft, accessible aged style.

This sits in the slightly sweeter camp, an after-dinner pour rather than a dry contemplative one. The nose offers dark chocolate, caramel and a woody note with a faint spirity lift, and the palate keeps the dark chocolate and caramel going over oak with a gentle sweetness. The eight years in barrel give it a rounded, easygoing character that stays simple and undemanding. It makes a comfortable introduction to South American rum from an origin few drinkers will have tried, the kind of relaxed, chocolatey sipper that suits an unhurried evening glass.