N. Kröger Wagemut Fasssprache: Walnut Rum N. 15 2023

This belongs to N. Kroger's Wagemut Fasssprache project, a series built to explore what unusual woods do to a young base rum rather than to chase a perfect sipper. The cask here is walnut, and the experiment is the point: a Trinidad molasses spirit given six extra months in a new-make walnut barrel. It was bottled as a single cask, unsweetened, at a forthright 63 percent after three and a half years.

The walnut wood dominates, as intended. The nose is spicy, nutty, woody and almost meaty, the palate adds maple syrup and more nut over the spice, and the finish stays woody, nutty and oily. The base Trinidad spirit is young and fizzy beneath it all, a deliberately plain canvas for the wood to paint on. This is an educational, curiosity-driven bottling for drinkers who enjoy cask experiments more than polished pours, best sampled within the wider Fasssprache set.