Spirit
Rhum Agricole
Rhum agricole is the cane-juice rum of the French Caribbean, distilled from the juice of fresh-pressed sugarcane rather than the molasses behind most rum, which gives it a bright, grassy, vegetal and minerally character quite unlike a molasses spirit. Bottled at around 40 to 55 percent alcohol, it is sold clear and unaged as rhum blanc or aged in oak as rhum ambre and rhum vieux, and it is the essential base of the ti' punch, the French West Indies' ritual drink of rum, lime and cane syrup.
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At a glance
Signature
Sugarcane & Grassy
Green-olive
Strength
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by taste profile
Bright, grassy and minerally, rhum agricole leads with the smell of fresh-crushed sugarcane and cut grass over green olive, cane vinegar and a briny, almost saline funk that marks its cane-juice origin, laced with white pepper and a herbaceous, vegetal edge. Unaged blanc is clean, pungent and vibrant with a warming alcohol bite at around 40 to 55 percent, while oak-aged ambre and vieux soften into vanilla, cocoa, dried fruit, leather and warm baking spice without losing the grassy cane backbone. The finish is dry, peppery and grassy, longer and rounder in aged bottlings, and far more herbaceous and mineral than a comparable molasses rum.
Taste balance
BitternessSmooth
SmoothBitter
StrengthStrong
LightStrong