What is it? New Grove “Old Tradition” 5 year old rum is a molasses based, column still rum, distilled at the Gray’s distillery in Mauritius – so Traditional Rum, under the Gargano classification. Once the rum is distilled, it is matured in Limousin casks (French oak) for at least 5 years in Mauritius. The Angel’s Share in Mauritius is higher than Europe but not as high as the Tropics, so with a 5 year age statement on here you’re looking at around 8 or so years of equivalent European ageing. What you have to remember though is that those 5 years have been spent in French oak, which is tight grained and has an intensity to it for spirit maturation.

Not chill-filtered, natural colour and bottled at 40% abv.

Sugar? No.

Nose: Very interesting indeed! Immediate massive hit of tropical fruit with bags of passion fruit, guava, mango and papaya. Quite quickly some more savoury elements appear in the form of eucalyptus, diesel, green olives, camphor and hot tyres. There is a little touch of smoke here too, like distant burning leaves.

Palate: Full mouth, quite oily; ah the joys of non chill-filtered rum, even at 40% abv. Savoury first here with olive again, celery, pear drops, diesel and a touch of rubber. Fruits then appear but more muted than on the nose; pineapple, nectarine, peach and a tiny bit of green banana skin. Some light oak spices with vanilla and cinnamon come out and a little brine at the end. There is something that keeps popping up throughout the palate that I can’t quite put my finger on and reminds me, oddly, of column still Caroni.

Finish: Medium. Not the biggest finish in the rum world, lets not beat about the bush here, it is only 5 years old and 40% abv. Sweeter here, some brine for sure and engine oil but more vanillas, nutmeg, cinnamon again and a little firm set honey. There is a faint smoke that lingers on your tongue and the tang of a flame grilled pineapple.

Thoughts? Very good. Different from most other rums out there. I don’t know what Gray’s do at their distillery but the fruit levels are intense on all the rums I’ve tried from them. If you gave this to someone who wasn’t widely familiar with rum styles for a blind tasting, they’d never say it was rum. This style of Mauritian rum is one I really love and it’s perfect for a hot day, very refreshing. I can’t quite decide if I prefer the 8 year old or this 5 year old to be honest, there isn’t really much in it in terms of quality and flavour but I guess this is less fruity and more savoury for some reason. I’d have thought it’d be the other way round.

I picked this up for £30. A lot of people would shy away given the age statement on the bottle, but forget it. For £30 it’s a cracker and you’re getting a real, transparent, aged rum – they could have quite easily put some”XO” or fancy name on the bottle instead of an honest “5 years old”, but no, they’ve told you what it is. They’ve not coloured it and they’ve not chill-filtered it. Hats off to them and it’s one I’ll be picking up again.