TimberCoast Avontuur Voyage 4 Signature

Avontuur is bottled by TimberCoast, whose conceit is maturing rum aboard a sailing cargo ship. This Voyage 4 starts as a Madeira cane-juice rum, one of the few regions outside the French islands legally entitled to the agricole name, aged about three years in barrel before spending a further nine months rolling at sea under sail.

The sea-ageing story is the hook, the constant motion and changing climate said to speed up the spirit's interaction with the wood, though here the result reads as young and still finding its feet. Baking spice and barrel notes lead, the palate runs warm and a little raw, and the finish turns bittersweet. Distilled on a column from fresh cane juice and bottled at 42%, it is an honest, experimental young agricole-style rum sold on its voyage as much as its maturity, one for the curious rather than the seeker of polish.