Ruotkers GmbH Ron Johan White Rum 2018

Ruotkers GmbH Ron Johan White Rum is an unaged white from the Austrian distillery Ruotkers, bottled at 40%. It is a young, raw style of rum, distilled and bottled without barrel time, and it wears that youth plainly.

The nose is dominated by raw alcohol, sharp ester and a petrol, medicinal edge, and the palate follows with more spirit heat, petrol and a metallic tang, finishing hot and warming. There is a faint hint of underlying sweetness and even a whisper of wood character despite the lack of ageing, but this is firmly an unpolished, high impact white. It is a challenging neat pour, better suited to robust cocktails where its sharp, funky edge can be tamed by other ingredients. One for the curious rather than the faint hearted.