Oxenham Craft Distillery Bougainville VSOP Rum

Oxenham works in Mauritius, an island that makes both cane juice and molasses rum outside the French AOC system, and this Bougainville VSOP is its molasses side, distilled on a pot still and aged four years in ex bourbon oak. Pot distillation typically keeps more body and aromatic weight than a column, and that shows in the rum's nutty, fruity character.

Bottled at a soft 40 percent, it is built for easy drinking. The nose offers banana, hazelnut and orchard fruit, the palate turns nutty with coffee, banana and tobacco, and the finish stays nutty with a copper, spicy, woody edge. There is a light funk here that lifts it above the merely smooth, but the wood can read a touch forward for the gentle strength. This is an uncomplicated, value minded Mauritian rum, most at home as a relaxed aperitif pour rather than a deep sipper.