Clement XO 6-Year

The Clément rum vieux X.O. hasn't only a nice bottle and packaging, but it's certainly a premium french aged agricole rum!

Nice to drink neat, it isn't too strong and has interesting floral and oak notes!

My taste does not run to agricoles, as thorough readers of this site will have noticed. I appreciate what the French islands are trying to do, and the others I've tried - Clement 5 Year, Barbancourt - meet clear quality standards. But, early on I decided I want to appreciate rum for its rum-ness, not its ability to taste like fine cognac.

Still, I had a chance to try the XO and it changed my mind about what an agricole rum can be (well, as it should for the $100/btl price). The off-gold color signals its difference from the products of the non-AOC islands. The bottle is magnificent, the swirl in the glass perhaps even more so. And the finish was almost perfect.

The aroma and mouth-feel, though, take me back to my cognac days. Yes, I could love this in that way. I could forget it was rum. And I'd put this among the better cognacs I've tasted, which leads me to rate this highly.

The trouble is, I don't prefer this flavor. If you enjoy cognac, this is your rum. If not, I'd avoid the agricoles and look to the molasses-based rums of other islands for excitement.

Smells piggy brown suger and dried plum, apricot hints of clove and lavender mind caramel vanilla and sweet French oak and a flush of flavors to long to list in this box

I've had a number of agricoles, and haven't been overly impressed with any of them... until I tried this. This is a complex rhum, which smells of oak, toffee, honey, tobacco, sugar, brown sugar, and a light peppery spice. Taste is equally complex. It's a bit strong at 44%abv, but rhums this good should be a bit stronger, without any water or ice to take away from their goodness. If you're not an agricole fan (which I'm not), I'm guessing you'll really like this one anyway.

Un très bon rhum agricole, pas trop fort, un arôme complexe boisé et épicé avec une belle longueur. Une valeur sûr du rhum martiniquais.

After reading all the wonderful things about agricole rum from Martinique I tried to find any local/regional liquor store that carried any. In some places the clerks didn't know what agricole rum is. None of the stores had any such rums.

However this past weekend my wife and I took a little romantic weekend getaway to Panama City Beach, Florida (about a 2-hour drive from home). Whenever I am in someplace out of my region I will check out the liquor stores. In one such shop I noticed the bottle of this sitting on the top shelf behind the counter. I asked the clerk about it and she told me it had been sitting up there for a long, long time and no one showed any interest in it so the owner marked it down. Way down. In order to sell it. Under $100 actually. Definitely was not passing up on such a good deal.

I had read many glowing reviews about this rum and while I was opening the bottle my thoughts went to whether or not this rum would live up to the hype.

It does.

And then some.

This is the first, and thus far, only specified agricole rum in my collection [UPDATE: On a recent trip to New Orleans I purchased more agricole rums including other Clement rums -- reviews hopefully soon.]. It is quite smooth but drier than most in my collection. Much drier. But the complex flavors it has are remarkable. And call me crazy but it seems to be smooth AND have a bite to it at the same time (44% ABV probably explains that). Hard to explain. Since this is make from sugar cane juice rather than molasses the flavor is uniquely different. One source says the rum comes from a combination of "some liquid from the famed 1970, 1976 and 1952 vintages" while another says there are some liquid from four different years. I pick up on a smooth sweetness along with some sharpness from the oak. A little maple syrupiness to it, perhaps?

Definitely a sipping rum. To use it as a mixer would be a cryin' shame.

and soon to be gone. blended with rum from 1952 and they are running out. whisky and brandy lovers will also like this rum.

One of the 10% of rums made with sugar cane, this is very good.

if you haven´t checked agricole rhum til now, this is a good try. one of the softer agricoles, this is a good idea to start with, although not a cheap one. Over all it tastes very smooth and elegant, rounded notes of fruit, caramel, vanilla and nut.

Ce rhum vanille ducre legerement boise est un bon rhum.il est beaucoup plus fin que le vsop qui est trop sur le bois.l equilibre est bon .ce rhum est tres bon avec un gout de vanille et d epices sur la canelle et un petit gout de pruneau.petit bemol par rapport a des rhums suds americains( zacapa xo et millonario xo) qui sont moins sur l alcool et plus doux.certains aimeront moi je prefere plus sucre et plus doux.note : 8.5.a avoir dans une collection.le meilleur de la marque clement en tout cas.