Trois Frères Distillery Takamaka Le Clos Series #3 2019

Trois Freres distils this Takamaka release from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice on a pot still, then ages it three years in the Seychelles before drawing it from a single ex-bourbon barrel. Tropical island heat works the oak quickly, so even at three years the spirit shows more wood influence than the age suggests, which is typical of maturation this close to the equator.

The nose leans woody and sweet with mango, vanilla and a dusting of spice, but the palate turns assertive: peppery and spicy with caramel underneath, the bourbon barrel and the pot-still cane character pulling against each other. The finish runs dry through black tea, earth and a return of vanilla. Bottled unsweetened at full cask strength of 56.2 percent, it is a sharp, spice-forward pour that benefits from water to coax the fruit forward, and it shows agricole-style rum can come from far outside the Caribbean.