JM Millésime 2011 Brut de fût is a 9-year-old agricultural rum from Martinique. JM produces this AOC rum at the Fonds-Préville distillery, which is one of the long list of vintage paper label rums.
Still distilled in December 2011, it was then placed in American oak casks that had contained bourbon. On March 19, 2021, more than 9 years later, it was bottled brut de fût, without dilution or addition of any kind.
On the nose, fruit and candied cane mix in a powerful and intoxicating harmony that gives us an intensely exotic snapshot. The fresh woody flavor is evidence of a rum in good shape, lively and lively, with tannins that have just melted away with fruity reflexes.
The aeration emphasizes the wood and its tannins, which have meanwhile been enhanced by pepper. The rum is all the more striking because it has now grown with encaustic, like an old exotic tree to which a touch of youth has been added.
On the palate, all this woodiness comes together to give us a melting and greedy attack, particularly pleasant. A nice complexity takes hold of the taste buds, with a tender woodiness, stewed fruits and a nice toughness. The cane’s fiber is very ripe, its vegetable side is candied and full of sweet spices.
Finally, a coat of wax is applied to the whole thing, so that the pleasure lasts…
“A fantastic year for JM, which offers us a really pleasant and tasty treat…”
In comparison, the 2010 JM Brut de fût 10 years had a lighter profile with more acidic oxidized fruit, such as apple and pear. The same soft tannins came to mind, but the freshness won out. The palate was also simpler and softer, certainly less greedy than the 2011.
The plantation where Rhum JM is produced today was originally just a sugar refinery, but when Jean-Marie Martin bought the property in 1845, he switched his focus from sugar to rum. Jean-Marie had quickly spotted that the unique conditions of the fields at the foot of Mont Pelée created sugarcane of an unrivaled quality that would make an excellent rhum agricole. And to this day, 100% of the distillery’s sugar cane is still grown on the steep slopes of the mighty volcano. JM highlights 4 things that are crucial to the terroir: the lush, volcanic soil, the tropical humidity from the low cloud cover, the ventilation from the sea breeze that blows into the volcano and cools the fields, and the good drainage in the steep hillside fields. To preserve all the aromas of the sugarcane, they are pressed within 1 hour of harvesting!
Next to the distillery and the fields are the cellars, where part of the rum is stored for longer periods. At JM, bourbon casks made of American oak are mainly used, but now and then new, unused casks, armagnac casks, cognac casks and calvados casks are also seen. When the casks are burned at JM, it is done by igniting high-strength rum in the cask – an impressive sight!
