Zaka Private Rum Collection (Japanese Whisky Cask Finish) 2008

Bottled under the Zaka label as part of a private rum collection, this 2008 Trinidad rum took an unusual detour through a Japanese whisky cask. Trinidad's living style is typically light and column-distilled in the Spanish-heritage idiom, clean and soft, and this single cask wears that character before the finish adds its own accent. It was bottled unsweetened at an easy 45 percent after roughly thirteen and a half years.

Distilled from molasses and matured before its whisky-cask finish, it opens woody and fruity with toffee and a fresh lift, then turns to vanilla, walnut and an earthy sweetness on the palate. The finish stays sweet and oily with pepper and wood. The whisky cask leaves a subtle malt-like inflection over the rum rather than overwhelming it, giving a full-flavoured, slightly unconventional Trinidad worth a curious pour.