Prichard‘s Prichard’s Fine Rum

Prichard's Fine Rum comes from Prichard's Distillery in Tennessee, a maker working from molasses and ageing in ex-bourbon oak, here at three years and bottled at 40%. American molasses rum rarely turns out like this, and that is what makes the bottle worth a look, an unexpected fruity, estery character emerging from an unlikely origin.

The nose is the surprise, an interesting mix of fruit, specifically apple, alongside a glue or varnish note that recalls Jamaica without the full intensity of high-ester rum, plus a light vanilla lift. The palate keeps the orchard fruit going, apple and green fruits over wood with a faintly solventy edge, before a finish of fruit and cola. Some tasters catch an almost calvados-like quality in its apple brightness. It is an unusual, characterful American rum that rewards curiosity, showing that estery fruit can turn up well outside the Caribbean.