Saint James Single Cask 1997

Saint James has distilled since 1765 and is among the largest Martinique houses, and this single cask was laid down in 1997 and bottled at nineteen and a half years old to mark two decades of the AOC. The spirit is rhum agricole from fresh-pressed sugar-cane juice on a column still, matured in ex-bourbon oak and released unsweetened at 42.7%.

Nearly twenty years of maturation, much of it in tropical heat, has carried this far from a fresh blanc into deep, fruit-driven territory. The nose layers sour cherry, dried dates and figs, and the palate follows with dried fruit, raisin, guava and yellow orchard fruit. The hallmark agricole freshness now sits as a bright thread beneath toasted, fruit-laden depth, all of it kept dry by the no-added-sugar tradition. A long-aged Martinique single cask carrying real maturity and a clear vintage-AOC pedigree.