To make this amber rum, Neisson experimented with different cask "profiles" for aging: second-hand ex-bourbon casks, but also new oak casks of different origins and burned in different ways.
So it was the "profile 105" that won unanimous approval at the Neisson distillery.
Nico's tasting notes
The very first nose offers dry notes of bagasse, pepper, and a sort of graininess that makes you put your nostrils to it with caution. But it soon opens up to fresh, sweet citrus. It then rounds out with rich, fatty oak and melted nuts. The spices are lively, parading and dancing as if to keep our attention. The woodiness can sometimes be quite toasty and dry all the same, but is each time soothed by the sweetness of a honey with peppery accents.
With time and aeration, the rum achieves a fine balance between a dry agricultural character and full-bodied nuts. The woodiness takes center stage, supported by peppery mint. The more the rum airs out, the more mature it becomes, going well beyond the usual amber rum. The cane is round, and we enter into a cozy, cottony comfort, by the fireside with a black tea and a buttery sablé. A refined little cane bonbon.
The attack on the palate is lively, frank and spicy. Cane and wood are equal partners, until the balance tips in favor of the latter, with generous pinches of cocoa and ground nuts. Peanuts too, fatty but not roasted, and a nougatine-like impression that melts on the tongue. The ever-comfortable flavors of yeast and tea are directed and shaped by the wood.
The finish is simpler, less complex, on nuts and pepper above all.
"It's impossible to guess blindly that this is just an amber or wood-aged rum, so much complexity and accomplished flavors are already there..."
