Neisson Kongo x Neisson Carafe Mizunara No. 282 2015

This Neisson is a collaboration release matured in Japanese Mizunara oak, a 2015 vintage from the celebrated Martinique family distillery, drawn from a single cask. Mizunara is prized and notoriously difficult wood, and on agricole made from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice it is an unusual marriage that pulls the spirit toward a richer, more aromatic register than ex-bourbon would.

The cask defines it: dried fruit and oak on the nose, a palate of dried fruit, caramelized sugarcane and clove, and a long, dried-fruit finish. The Mizunara lends a natural, perceived sweetness and a sandalwood-like depth without any sugar being added, and the rum stays unsweetened at 49.8 percent. The grassy agricole core sits underneath, framed rather than buried by the wood. This is a slow-sipping, contemplative bottling where the rare oak and the cane character reward unhurried attention neat.