Renegade Rum – RHUM AGRICOLE – Single Farm Origin: Pre-Cask Westerhall

Renegade Pre-Cask Westerhall Column Still is a pure sugarcane juice rum from the island of Grenada. It is produced in column at the Renegade distillery created by Mark Reynier who is also the founder Waterford. Rhum agricole differs from rum in that it’s distilled directly from pressed cane sugar instead of fermented juice or cane byproducts like molasses, and it usually comes from French-speaking Caribbean countries. The cane plant, rum’s primary raw ingredient, is the natural source of its flavour. Thus the land on which it grows & its microclimate determines its character. Therefore we choose to explore the terroirs of Grenada - one place, one farm, at a time: captured here as fresh, vibrant spirit before cask ageing. The southern most of our farms is nestled narrowly between the coastal road & marshy mangroves of Westerhall bay in front of its now ruined distillery. Here the moisture retentive soils, enriched by the legacy of coconut & cocoa trees, provides a fertile & verdant terroir. For this rum we harvested the sucrose-rich variety we call Clean Ester from River View Field, which stands on the terroir known as Old River. The modern marvel that is the Renegade Rum distillery was designed precisely to extol this individuality, with extended temperature-controlled fermentation for intensity, & considered distillation for gravitas. We look to compare & contrast authentic flavours, terroir by terroir. It is presented pre-cask: as unaged, fresh cane juice spirit. All cane, real provenence, terroir-driven, considered distillation: rum au naturel.