Karukera L’Empyrium #3 2018

Karukera bottles this L'Empyrium from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice in Guadeloupe, distilled on a column and given seven years in ex-bourbon. The extra age over its younger siblings pushes the wood further forward, and tropical maturation means the oak speaks loudly at this point in its life.

The nose runs woody, roasted and faintly smoky with dark fruit, the palate stays woody and roasted with dried fruit and a slightly astringent, drying grip, and the finish brings mango, caramel and anise. The balance tips a touch toward the oak, the spice and wood leading with the grassy cane core sitting underneath. Bottled unsweetened at 46.5 percent, it is a spicy, fruit-laced aged agricole with the wood well integrated even if the astringency shows its years. One for drinkers who like their aged cane-juice rum dry and firmly oak-driven, sipped slowly with a drop of water.