Renegade Pre-Cask Westerhall (Old River) 2019

Renegade Pre-Cask Westerhall is an agricole-style white from Grenada, distilled from fresh sugar-cane juice rather than molasses as part of Renegade's terroir-focused programme. Grenada sits outside the protected agricole zone, so this is cane-juice rum in spirit, an unaged column-still spirit bottled unsweetened at a forthright 50% to show the cane and the place undisguised.

With no time in wood, the raw cane character is fully exposed, and it leans funky. The nose carries dried fruit, sugarcane and a vegetal edge over a clear nail-polish note, the palate is vegetal and estery with cane and glue, and the finish stays fresh and estery with a leathery burn. The aromas are punchy and divisive, the kind of natural, high-ester white that most drinkers treat as a characterful mixer or a geeky tasting pour, ideal in a daiquiri where the bright, funky cane can cut through.