Single Cask Rum, 'South Africa - MHOBA 2018'

• Single cask aged rum distilled by MHOBA Rum Distillery in Malalane, South Africa
• Blend of Select White (SW) and Select White – Heavy Double Distillate (SW-HDD) marques
• Produced from 100% sugarcane juice pressed from estate-grown sugarcane
• Open fermented 6–7 days using ambient yeast
• Distilled in custom high reflux pot stills made from stainless steel and copper
• Aged 6 years in refill ex–South African whisky barrels from an undisclosed distillery
• Mint leaf and brûléed caramel on the nose lead to vanilla crème and Sichuan peppercorn on a briny palate with spun sugar and a hint of eucalyptus on the finish
• No sugar, coloring, or other additives
• Non-chill filtered; 59% ABV

The long-anticipated second and third MHOBA releases from Holmes Cay’s single cask rum series originated as a single batch of cane juice rum distilled in 2018 from two marques. The first, SW, is uniquely distilled in that rather than making traditional live cuts during the distillation process, the run is cut multiple times, briefly rested, and select cuts are combined until the final blend is achieved. The SW-HDD marque sees cuts from the SW marque redistilled with fermented wash. The two marques were blended and divided into four American oak barrels—two ex–South African whisky barrels and two ex–South African peated whisky barrels. These barrels were aged entirely in South Africa for six years and bottled at the MHOBA distillery. With just 510 bottles of this whisky-cask-aged rum available in the US, you won’t want to wait on this one.