Drink of the Week: Star & Key VSOP Rum

Pop quiz for Friday happy hour, and the subject is rum: What islands make outstanding rums from fresh sugarcane juice? Most rum fans probably think first of Martinique, or maybe Guadeloupe. These islands in the Lesser Antilles are renowned for making intensely aromatic rhum agricole; lively spirits with the characteristics of grass, herbs, and tropical fruit. But fresh sugarcane rum isn’t exclusively a Caribbean thing, and other islands around the world are showing what they can do. Exhibit A: Today’s Drink of the Week, Star & Key VSOP Rum.

Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean about 1,000 miles east of the African mainland, is quite literally a world away from the Caribbean. One of the most remote islands in the world, Mauritius was known at one time as the home of the dodo. The large flightless bird went extinct within a century of its discovery (RIP dodo). More relevant to rum fans, this volcanic island has also been a source of sugarcane since the 1600s.

Star & Key is made at Labourdonnais estate, established on the island’s northeastern corner in 1856. The distillery is set among the estate’s 1,500 acres of sugarcane and fruit fields, which helps preserve the freshness factor as the cane is crushed and the juice is fermented.

Distilled on a column still and matured exclusively in toasted French oak Cognac casks, Star & Key VSOP is bottled at 43 percent ABV as a single-estate, single-cask rum. In the glass, it offers the aromatic goodness of an aged fresh-cane rum, with layers of toasted pastry and crème brûlée mingling with notes of dried fruit and nutmeg. Crisp and dry on the palate, the rum engages in a hop-skip-jump among vivid flavors of honey, marmalade, toasted nuts, and brown sugar. Finishing with a flourish of chocolate, oranges, and baking spice, the rum is perfectly suited for sipping with no other accompaniment than a glass. Though, if it finds its way into an evening’s Mai Tai or Jungle Bird, it should find itself right at home. $39.99, luekensliquors.com