YOU MAY have seen the bottle. It’s iconic.

The pale-yellow bottle of white rum labeled Rhum Bologne is found at rum bars around the world.

Bologne is one of the heavyweights of Guadeloupe’s rhum agricole industry, and it’s in no small part to the strength of this bottle, which is one of the world’s greatest white varieties.

And while Bologne also makes an amber-coloured variety, it’s the Rhum Blanc that has always been the star.

That was until a few years ago, when Bologne did something revolutionary: it debuted a premium aged rhum vieux, or old rum.

Unlike its tower counterparts, the Rhum Vieux comes in a sleek, rounded shape in a black box, closed with a cork.

The Old Rum is a collection of vintages between three and eight years of age, a complex, robust departure from the distillery’s wheelhouse.

The rum has a rich, cherry-wood colour, with an aroma of caramel, dried fruit and oak.

The flavour profile is marked by spice, wood, dried fruits, pepper and that quintessential note of Guadeloupe rums: marzipan.

It’s an excellent rum, and now makes up a solid component of one of the world’s great rum brands.

— CJ