MHOBA Bushfire

MHOBA Bushfire is a pure cane juice rum from South Africa, pot distilled in the agricole spirit even though the agricole name is reserved for the French islands. MHOBA works from fresh pressed cane and has earned a name among enthusiasts for vivid, unapologetic rums, and this is one of its wildest.

The defining feature is smoke. The nose hits with heavy woodsmoke, grilled and smoked meat, bacon and an estery, almost solvent lift, and the palate follows the same path: smoky, meaty and woody with burnt sugar and a charred, savoury depth, finishing on smoke and burnt notes. It reads like liquid barbecue and is genuinely polarising, the sort of bottle that fascinates one drinker and unsettles the next. At 55% the intensity is real. This is a curiosity for adventurous palates who enjoy peated whisky or feral cane juice rum and want them folded into a single smoky glass.