Rhum Clement Rhum Ambre. Clement as the bottle clearly advises are a rhum agricole producer from the French speaking island of Martinique.

Homère Clément, physician and mayor of Le François, purchased the prestigious 43 hectare sugar plantation, Domaine de L’Acajou in 1887. He pioneered the production of Rhum Agricole.

In 1986 Rhum Clément was sold to the Hayot family, who remain close to the Clément family. The following piece is taken directly from the companies website

“The Hayot family continues to maintain the heritage, culture and passion of the Clément family and Rhum Clément, and continues the strong Clément legacy. Habitation Clément has been re-vitalized with investment in new cellars for aging rhum, a beautiful reception for tourists, art galleries and an exquisite tasting room for visitors to enjoy Rhum Clément”

GBH are a large group and are involved in motor car retail, industrial activities, ready to mix concrete etc. Their interest in rum recently broadened when they took over St Lucia Distillers.

Anyway back to the rhum up for review. Rhum Clement Rhum Ambre is the companies entry level “dark” rhum. I paid just under £30 for a bottle in the UK. You will however, find it much cheaper on the continent especially in France. The rhum comes in a standard bar bottle with a high quality screw cap which is not at all flimsy and quite hard wearing.

As with most agricoles the rhum features a picture of the estate on the front with some information about the rhum. This is a French Caribbean Golden Rhum. Aged for 12 months in French oak.

In the glass Rhum Clement Rhum Ambre is a medium to light brown in the glass. The nose is quite rich. Whilst it is unmistakably a cane juice rhum there are elements of the nose which remind me more of molasses based rums.

Rhum Clement Rhum Ambre is not a particularly grassy agricole, its more like hay than freshly cut cane. It’s quite rich and almost chocolately on the nose. Definitely reminiscent of a molasses based rum. It’s quite sweet and has a very big hit of hazlenuts and some cashews. It has a nice balance and warmness to it. It doesn’t have a great deal of alcohol on the nose.

Sipped it is a little sharper. It’s a little grassier than the nose with less of the hazelnut and chocolate. More biscuit as in something like a rich tea or even a digestive. (Plain biscuit popular in the UK). At one year old it doesn’t do badly as a sipper. It has a nice flavour profile a little bit too heavy on the alcohol notes, which is perhaps where you notice its lack of age the most.

Rhum Clement Rhum Ambre starts off quite well as a sipper but quickly falls away. It doesn’t have much of a mid section or finish. There’s a bit of spiciness from the oak but nothing overpowering or overly complex.

As you can see from the rear label Clement recommend mixing this rhum in a Ti’Punch or perhaps surprisingly with cola. I suspect this may have something to do with the UK tax sticker on the label……

Having said that in a rum and cola it works pretty well. Better than most agricoles. This is likely because it has a richer less grassy profile. The hazelnuts and cashews really come out when drank in this way. It makes for a nice change and I’ve really enjoyed drinking it that way.

However, perhaps where it stands out best is in alcohol heavy shorter cocktails such as Ti Punch and even an Old Fashioned. It lends itself well to an Old Fashioned due to the stronger boozier notes thanks to its youth.

This isn’t as punchy or as in your face as some White Agricoles. But those usually have higher ABV’s. It’s a nice halfway house between an unaged white and the Clement VSOP.

This doesn’t have many off notes or anything to get offended by. Maybe it is a little to simple and not as challenging as you might want from a true sipper. As a mixer though, especially if you do get it cheap on the continent I doubt any agricole lover would have too much to complain about.

Nicely balanced but maybe a touch on the soft side. Not a bad introduction to Agricole Rhum though.