Velier Beenleigh Alex Webb Edition (Magnum) 2015

This Beenleigh was selected by Velier, the Genoese house behind rum's most collectible bottlings, and released in magnum as the Alex Webb Edition. Drawn from a 2015 distillation of one of Australia's oldest distilleries and aged eight years, it is bottled unsweetened at a full 60 percent, a focused, fruit driven cask strength rum.

Matured in ex bourbon, it leads with vivid fruit, a nose of orange, banana, apricot and mango lifted by floral, vegetal and lightly mentholated notes, then a palate of juicy fruit, oak and citrus over butterscotch and caramel candy. The structure is fairly straightforward but the fruit is generous and candy like, and being unsweetened it stays bright rather than syrupy. The proof gives it real intensity, so a little water helps, and it works best as a vivid, fruit forward sipping rum for those who like Beenleigh and Velier at strength.