Rum Bougainville Gold. Bougainville may not be familiar to many of you. It is a brand of rums from the island of Mauritius. Bougainville hails from the Oxenham Distillery. I have featured rums from Mauritius in the past – Penny Blue and Pink Pigeon both of which hailed from the Medine Distillery.

So we are dipping our toes into new territory here. Bougainville and other Oxenham products are imported into the UK by Green Island Drinks Limited headed up by Yogen Bacha. They also have an online Rum Shop where you get a number of products particularly those from Mauritius.

Rum Bougainville Gold is a molasses based rum – the molasses is produced in Mauritius. It is aged for a minimum of 1 year in seasoned sherry casks – Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez. I would imagine it is coloured with caramel to give it it’s golden hue. In the UK a 70cl bottle of 40% ABV spirit will set you back around £25. Presentation wise as you can see it comes in a stubby style bottle with a metallic screw cap. You get some production notes on the rear label and thankfully not a load of marketing spiel.

Oxenham Distillery was set up in 2010 though the Oxenham company have been trading since 1932. The Distillery produces gin,vodka, rum and they also have a brewery which produces craft beers and a winery. So they are a pretty busy operation.

There are a number of rums in the Bougainville range – this is one of their youngest offerings. I am unsure whether this is a blend of Pot/Column rums or just column. I think it may well all be column distilled rum.

Anyway I don’t really have much else to say about this particular rum so we may as well crack on with the fun part.

In the glass Rum Bougainville Gold is (surprise, surprise) a nice golden brown. On the nose you initially get a lot of apple peel and some cider vinegar. Further nosing reveals a creamy note – shortcrust pastry and croissants. Running across this is a toffee/caramel note which is very pleasant. The notes of apple remain throughout as well giving a slight acidic note.

It’s quite a light easy going nose – not much alcohol or boozy notes with this one. It’s quite sweet with some white wine notes to it as well. Quite an interesting rum – not one I would have been able to place.

Overall the nose is pretty pleasant and much better than I might have expected in a 1 year old rum.

Sipping is where this rum really surprised me. Rum Bougainville Gold is a very pleasant and very easy going rum. It is perhaps a little too “soft” for some but for an everyday sipper this works really nicely.

The nose transfer over into the sip beautifully. A really like the acidic Apple notes that hit you on the first hit. There is also a lot of toffee and caramel with this rum giving it a nice warming feel. It also has a almost savoury whisky like note to it – bit like a Speyside Single Malt.

It’s perhaps not the most complex of sippers but for a 1 year old rum it is certainly pleasant enough neat.

Rum Bougainville Gold despite all the familiar notes does have a very distinctive taste to it. I can’t quite put my finger on it – it tastes a bit like what a rum and whisky might taste like mixed together.

For £25 you would expect a very competent mixer and Rum Bougainville does add a very distinctive flavour to your drinks. It works best perhaps with Ginger Beer as it seems to show its teeth a little bit alongside the spicy ginger. With Cola its okay but not one of my favourite serves to be honest. It just tastes a little odd. Lemonade and tonic work much better.

Rum Bougainville Gold is a nicely put together relatively inexpensive rum. If you prefer a lighter style – say Spanish style but want something free of additives this may be a good shout.

Not everyone will like this, as it is very distinctive but I have acquired quite a taste for it now I’m 2/3 of the way through the bottle. If you like the Penny Blue rums this will appeal.

Good stuff.