The Distillery English Harbour Sherry Cask Finish (Batch 003) 2016

English Harbour is the flagship rum of the Antigua Distillery, and this Batch 003 is a sherry cask finished release distilled in 2016 from molasses on a column still and bottled at 46% after around five years. The sherry influence is the headline, lending depth and a wine-touched richness to the island's typically lighter, cleaner rum.

The nose carries sherry, sweetness, vanilla and a note of coffee, while the palate balances sherry and wine against a dry backbone, finishing dry with cherry, sherry and fruit. There is a pleasing tension here between the sweet sherry overlay and the underlying dry, fruity spirit, with hints of spice, wood, nuts and orchard fruit filling it out. Drinkers are glad to have caught this one, and it sips well neat, a well-defined, lightly sweet rum that shows what a thoughtful sherry finish can bring to a column still Antiguan base.