This HSE Extra Vieux Single Cask 2006 is a great vintage agricultural rum from Habitation Saint Etienne in Martinique.
Produced at the Simon distillery, this rum was distilled in a Creole column before spending 15 long years in French oak barrels, under the watchful eye of cellar master Lionel Lampin.
Aged since June 2006, the rum was bottled in November 2021 from a single 400-liter barrel. Each bottle is identified by double numbering.
Nico's tasting notes
The nose is that of a very woody, elegant fragrance, garnished with a thousand spices from faraway lands. Oak shows all its facets, with a raw, resinous fiber, fresh sawdust, a bark rich in exotic fragrances, and a certain vegetal freshness.
Aeration brings a superb curtain of pepper to the nose, then reveals a cane bursting with sweet fruit. From dried apricot to mango, with a detour through pineapple and guava, we plunge into a subtly pastry and complex side, underlined by delicate almond.
On the palate, wood grabs the taste buds, quickly rolling them in a carpet of spices mixed with toasted bread powder. Greedy nuts take over, their roasted husks leaving their fatty flesh exposed. Mature cane gathers dried fruit and exotic fruit juices around it, coating them with sure taste and a definite sense of elegance.
The finish offers a soft mattress of raw cane sugar syrup and dried fruit, with a rum that purrs gently through the length.
"Another HSE single cask that doesn't disappoint, and goes straight into the pantheon of great Martinique rums..."
Paul Iverno
I really don't like this product because in this price range the rums I tasted were much better.