Monte Negro Grogue Barbosa Amado & Vicente

Monte Negro Grogue Barbosa is a cane-juice spirit from the Monte Negro distillery in Cabo Verde, where grogue is the local fresh-cane tradition. Made from sugarcane juice on a pot still and finished in a tequila cask, it is bottled unsweetened at 45%. Grogue sits in the agricole family in spirit while standing well apart in flavour, and this is firmly an experimental, characterful release.

Pot distillation and the cane base give it a wild, rustic shape: a nose of fresh cane, sake-like ferment, olive and vegetal notes, then a palate of fermented fruit, cucumber and smoke over a salty, herbal edge, finishing bitter and sappy. Honestly this is a polarising, funky spirit rather than an easy sipper, landing somewhere between clairin and agricole with a sake and mezcal flicker. It rewards adventurous drinkers and earns its place in cocktails, where its briny, herbal character can do real work.