Habitation Velier Trois Frères Distillery Takamaka 2018

This is a Habitation Velier bottling of Takamaka's Trois Freres distillery in the Seychelles, a 2018 cane-juice rum bottled as Pure Single Rum, pot still and single distillery with no additives. It is a young, full-proof expression in the line's distinctive black-and-white botanical livery, a chance to taste a less familiar cane-juice origin at full voltage.

Distilled from fresh sugar-cane juice and aged just three years in ex-bourbon oak, it keeps a raw, agricole-leaning freshness while the pot still gives it weight. The result is dry, herbal and a touch wild, mint and herbs with rubber, citrus and light tropical fruit, intense and distinctive rather than smooth. At 60.8% and unsweetened it is concentrated and a little chaotic in the best way, well suited to bold cocktails or slow sipping with a splash of water. One for drinkers who enjoy high-proof, funky cane-juice rum and want to explore beyond the usual islands.