Saint James Royal Ambre is a Rhum Agricole from the French speaking island of Martinique.
For those unfamiliar with Rhum Agricole it is rum made from fresh cane juice as opposed to Rhum Industriel which is produced from molasses or other sugar by products.
The term Rhum Industriel is not widely used as it has negative connotations and those that do produce rhum in this way have no desire or motivation to market their products as such. As most production occurs outside of the French speaking islands it has no real meaning. The term when used in derogative way does Rhum Agricole’s snobbish overpriced reputation little favours.
Saint James Royal Ambre is a fairly reasonably priced just over £20 for a 70cl bottle which is bottled at an ABV of 45%. Many Agricoles are much more expensive. There is no age statement on the rum or any notations suggesting it is well aged. The rum has the AOC marque from the French Government which signifies the rhum is produced as a true Agricole Rhum.
Like it’s Cane Juice counterpart Cachaca, Rhum Agricole has a very vegetal, grassy profile which can take some getting used to.
In all honesty I find Rhum Agricole to be very strange and I don’t really think of it as rum. Admittedly it is better than my experiences of Cachaca but not by a big margin.
This Rhum Agricole is quite well regarded and the retailer I bought it from had a limit of one bottle per customer.
The Rhum is presented in quite a nice rectangular bottle with Saint James 1769 etched on the shoulders of the bottle. The presentation is quite pleasant is consistent throughout the range of rum’s. The bottle is written solely in French so I have little idea what the rhum thinks about itself!
On the nose the rhum exhibits fresh grassy notes and a slight vegetal/fruit note fresh and clean a little like cucumber. It is a pleasant medium gold/brown colour. When sipped it is pretty spicy it isn’t particularly harsh but it isn’t what you would term as smooth.
In the mouth the vegetal notes come to the forefront. The rhum reminds me a little of chewing grass as a child or munching on celery and cucumber. It’s very fresh and clean tasting but at the end of the day is this what I want rum to taste like? Clearly the French do.
As with my previous review of La Mauny VXO I’m just a little bit lost as to what this is supposed to be. I just don’t understand why you would want rum that tastes like this? It goes kind of okay with Lemonade but its just really odd tasting. My wife sometimes adds cucumber to vodka and lemonade this has a similar effect. Its kind of like all the ingredients of Pimms but without the actual Pimms.
Odd, odd, odd
1 star
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R.
March 21, 2022 at 11:57 am
Hmmm… This one left me puzzled, to say the least.
Mike
September 30, 2016 at 8:26 pm
Agricole is an “acquired taste”. I understand exactly what you describe, but for me it’s exactly the opposite: I don’t understand why one would want to drink British-Style Rhum! For me, Agricole is the highest expression of Rum: I love the grassy flavor, I love it’s freshness (diminished but still present even in very aged rums) and I adore it’s “lightness”.
I don’t disdain a drink of an excellent (!) English-style rum, and I have nothing against Spanish-style rums but, let’s face it: molasses are a “waste” product and as such much more flavorful (but with much less sugar). At the same time, they are cheaper/simpler to produce/distill… so calling Agricole overpriced seems a bit unfair.
I should also add that for me, the “action” isn’t in the super-premium-extra-old Agricole rums – that sort of defies the whole point – but the moderately priced, moderately aged bottles: each of them is unique and you can readily identify the distillery – which is what makes them so fascinating for me.
I’m amazed that most “rum-lovers” have never even heard of Agricole (at least here) but I’m happy if it stays like that, otherwise the prices might quickly become “unreasonably overpriced” ! 🙂
thefatrumpirate
October 2, 2016 at 2:04 pm
To be honest Mike I thought I had deleted this review. I’m slowly exploring more Agricole and understanding it more
Jolipapa
January 25, 2019 at 12:45 pm
Mike,
Thank you for putting things back on their feet. I’m quite fed up with reviews always reitarating the same trites…
AOC is not granted by the government. All rums are tested before being granted this label of authenticity.
Certainly no protectionist label. It not without reason it has been copied the world over.
Oh, by the way, I love rums, rons and rhums.
95% of rums drunk in France are Agricoles, and Martinique is France (Guadeloupe and Marie-Galante as well).
And yes, this review definitely deserves to be deleted or at best be ignored if not re-reviewed as some others….
matthew
February 27, 2015 at 4:40 am
Caught this review. Gives me some idea. But is there no sweetness in it? Sounds like alcohol plus wheat grass
thefatrumpirate
February 28, 2015 at 9:38 am
It is sweet but as I say in the review I just do not enjoy Agricole Rhum. It is different enough to be a different category altogether. It’s Rum Jim but not as we know it……