Ruotkers GmbH Ron Johan Serie Null

Ron Johan Serie Null is a young añejo from the Austrian producer Ruotkers, distilled and aged in house from molasses and given three years in ex-bourbon oak before bottling unsweetened at 42%. It belongs to a numbered series of small-batch European rums and sits at the more rustic, spirit-led end of the spectrum.

The cask dominates here, vanilla and a little fruit threading through a nose that stays fairly pale and quite alcoholic for the strength. The palate is woody and spice-driven with a warm, hot edge, the three years not yet having rounded off the spirit's rougher corners. The finish is short and oak-led. This is an honest, unsweetened young rum that wears its youth and its European distillery origins plainly, a bottle for those who like to follow small producers and don't mind a raw, work-in-progress character.