Long Pond Plantation Extreme No. 4 CRV 1996

This Plantation Extreme bottling from Maison Ferrand takes a 1996 Long Pond, the CRV marque, and ages it toward cognac cask influence, a single cask at 60.3% and twenty four years old. France's Maison Ferrand is known for double ageing in cognac casks, and here that gives a notably gourmand, accessible result rather than the estate's wildest funk.

Molasses fermentation and double retort pot distillation set the base, and long maturation with cognac oak brings a rich, fruity nose of wood, tropical fruit and a gluey trace. The palate is woody with cocoa and toasted notes wrapped around a tropical fruit salad and coconut, and the finish carries dried fruit and burnt sugar. For a cask strength, high age Long Pond it drinks remarkably approachably, the cognac influence smoothing the funk into something rich and contemplative. A slow sipping Jamaican for those who like their esters rounded by oak.