Damoiseau Les Arranges Pineapple Victoria. I have deviated from the true title of this bottling slightly so not to confuse English readers, who may not have a second language. The true title of this rum is Ananas Victoria. Which is the word more commonly used around the rest of the world, for what us English speakers call the Pineapple.

I remember seeing a post on Facebook a while back highlighting how, just about every language aside from English and Spanish, uses Ananas or a close variant on the word.

Anyway, enough of my anecdotes lets look at what we have with this bottling from Guadeloupe producer Damoiseau. Rhum Arranges literal translation into English is “Rum Re-Arranged”. It is not a regular rum and it can’t really be classed as a flavoured rum either due to the lower ABV. Rhum Arrange is often noted as being a digestif or aperitif or even a liqueuer. It is versatile and can be served in a number of different ways.

Rhum Arranges are extremely popular in France and the French speaking islands. Macerating molasses rum with fresh fruit is not as widespread as it is in the Agricole world. What we have here is white unaged Agricole Rhum from Damoiseau, which has been macerated in the bottle with Freshly Cut Victoria Pineapples and a pod or two of Vanilla.

Now you could regard this as a gimmick. However, as mentioned it is extremely popular. As far as ageing is concerned this is not an aged rhum. The white rhum is fresh unaged Agricole Rhum. The maceration period – well when you buy the bottle it still has the fruit in it, so it will still be active and will still be adding flavour to the rhum. The fruit used is hand picked and hand bottled at Damoiseau. It is quite different to our previous Damoiseau review their Millesime 1995.

Traditionally Rhum Arranges hails from the French Oversea’s Territory of Reunion Island – a nation currently earning high praise for it’s own take on Agricole Rhums,  “Grand Arome” from Savanna.

Damoiseau Les Arranges Pineapple Victoria is being imported into the UK along with the other regular Damoiseau rhums by Skylark Spirits. They were promoting Les Arranges at various Rum Festivals throughout the UK last year, obviously this year has been more challenging but the team have put together various online virtual tastings and Rum Festivals, to help promote this and the other r(h)ums in their portfolio.

Damoiseau Les Arranges Pineapple Victoria is presented in clear stubby rounded bottle with a short neck, with a chunky cork stopper. You can clearly see the fruit in the bottle. It is presented at 30% ABV (hence why we cannot call it a Flavoured Rum – ABV is below 37.5%) and retails at £41.95 over at Master of Malt. Alternatively Drinks Supermarket are also stocking it and if you type in the code “FATRUMPIRATE” you will receive a 10% discount until 31 August.

In the glass we have a yellow spirit a shade or two more “yellow-y” than straw or white wine. The nose is very sweet with lots of pineapple. It smells like a diluted Pineapple squash with a hint of soft vanilla. There is a slight note of the agricole rhum beneath the pineapple – though I may just be imagining this because I know it’s there. A very slight grassy note when you nose a little deeper. Nothing like covering your schnozz in Pineapple first thing of a morning……….

Aside from the Pineapple and Vanilla aromas you do still get a good boozy aroma on the nose. The Pineapple does dominate though, but it’s very nice juicy, fresh tasting Pineapple. None of the anemic undersized shite we get in our supermarkets. It does taste authentic – this is Fresh Pineapple Juice not sugary concentrate. The sweetness is all natural from the fruit. The vanilla pod seems to add a little extra refinement and a touch of complexity. An extra dash of sweetness.

As this is at a fairly low ABV there is little by way of burn. Having decent rhum at the heart of this will also help in that respect. Despite that it still has a reasonable length to the finish. The fade out of the Pineapple is enjoyable and it has just a bit of a kick from the rhum to keep things interesting. I confess I’ve added a bit of Damoiseau 50% ABV to the mix for a couple of my drinks. The extra oomph is very nice I must say.

You can’t taste a whole load of the Agricole Rhum at the heart of this drink. However, there is a slightly grassy/floral note at the back of the throat and despite only being 30% you still get a bit of a boozy kick married alongside the Pineapple flavour.

You can’t argue with what this does. It delivers flavours of Pineapple and Vanilla nicely. Very nicely in fact. It is dangerously drinkable (even more so with more Agricole added). I would probably like to see a higher ABV variant on this one. This might allow more of the agricole notes to flow through. That isn’t the intention of this though. It’s meant to taste of Pineapple. Not everyone is a rabid boozehound or a pisspot like me needing a huge boozy hit…….

For a bartender this kind of drink will prove very useful, as I would imagine a small amount of this will deliver a hefty kick of pineapple in a cocktail. It works great neat (or on the rocks if you insist), or with soda water/lemonade. As pictured you can also get a Mango and Passion fruit edition as well.

A very nice refreshing drink. Not rum as strictly decreed by the EU but rummy enough for a review.