Seeking advice on Agricole rums

I tasted some rhums and they were very different in the taste. There are fresh and grasy rhums or they could be dark and fruity or dirty or even funky like Savanna HERR. Clairin Communal Ansyen had esters, fermented fruits and some dirty notes. Was it the same in your case? It's actually very good but one have to like esters and dirty notes. I prefer the dark rhums like Damoiseau 1995. Savanna is also not bad in my opinion, but their Creol bottling is bright and grasy and the grand arome is more heavy and not bright. The HERR is very funky, thats why it's not enough to try two bottlings to say if you like it or not. I would open the Clement 1976 since Clement 2000 was very good: https://rumratings.com/brands/8687-clement-2000-rare-cask-collection-16-year?review_id=85327#alt_review_85327 Keep trying you will find you favorite.

For me, Rhum Agricole is a summer rhum, I don't drink Agricoles in the winter. You have done a heavy start with the Clairin they are young, wild and full of esters. I would take it slow with the high ester rum. I've started with well matured Agricole and I still prefer it. Better an XO or VSOP then an VO or Rhum Vieux. To get into the Agricole I recommend the Rhum J.M XO, Chamarel XO or HSE they are in a payable range. Bielle and Neisson are great but pricier. Open up the Clement, I'm sure you will be been satisfied. I think the Savanna HERR is made from molasses and not from fresh sugar cane, it's only the Créol.

Kudzey, I always recommend the J.M XO or the La Mauny XO as the best entrance to the Agricole world, both to an affordable price. I also recommend that you check an earlier discussion I took part in started by RumGuy1, “Why are the sweetest rums the most popular on rum ratings?”, were we slipped in on this subject during the second half.

Read your thoughts and came up with Saint James, the 7 or 12 depending on your required price point

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. Stefan, thanks for redirecting me to that forum topic too. So far I found I don't like the taste of fermented cane, is it characteristic to the two rums I drank or is it typical to all Agricole?

Kudzey, Clairin is very special with lots of esters and congeners. Clement is a quite demanding Agricole. What makes me a little confused is that you disliked the Rum & Cane French Overseas XO, cause I found that quite alright, but I just had a sample. I still think you should test the JM or the La Mauny cause if you don’t like them you’re probably not ready for Agricole’s yet. The Martinique Agricole’s are fruity and dry, so if you want something sweeter you maybe should test a ReimonenQ 7 or 9yo from Guadeloupe. The Guadeloupe Agricole’s are very rich, fruity and with a certain sweetness.

I recently picked up rhum Barbancourt 8 year and was pleasantly surprised considering the price point. Very tasty. The only other agricole I’ve had is Clement VSOP which was pretty heavy on the bourbon flavour but a nice change from my usual sweeter rums. I would recommend both!

Yohobro,Great to hear 👍🏼.The Haitian Rhum are a little special and different from the Agricole’s even though it’s mostly produced from sugar cane juice. Also the Agricole’s differs quite a lot. The Martinique Rhum is dry and fruity. The Guadeloupe Rhum is much richer and fruity with a certain sweetness. The Marie Galante Rhum is somewhere in between. Good luck to you when you’re now taking your first steps into the flavorful world of Agricole’s and other sugar cane juice based Rhums.