Mount Gay Single Estate Series Release 25 | 04 | Vt19dp 2019

Mount Gay markets itself as the world's oldest commercial rum distillery, its deed dated 1703, and its Single Estate Series spotlights individual vintages from the St Lucy operation. This release, distilled in 2019 and bottled by the distillery at a substantial 55 percent, shows the heritage name in a more focused, higher-proof guise than its everyday range. At around five years it is youthful but already characterful.

Made from molasses on Mount Gay's pot and column stills and matured in ex-bourbon oak, it is unsweetened and island-aged in keeping with the distillery's support for a stricter, additive-free Barbados standard. The nose offers caramel, dried fruit and tropical fruit over wood, the palate echoing that with a peppery, toasted edge, and the finish bringing dried fruit, pepper and toasted oak. A genuine, no-additives expression of Bajan rum with the proof to carry it neat.