Almost any rum lover (or Hemingway enthusiast) will remember.

It’s the rum that Ernest Hemingway drank in A Moveable Feast: Rhum St James.

Papa himself orders the drink to warm up on a cold day in Paris.

It’s something that led this writer to first search out the drink years ago, and just might be the reason many have first encountered a rhum agricole.

For the otherwise initiated, though, Rhum St James represents the pinnacle of Martinique rummaking, home to the wonderful Musee du Rhum in Martinique and producer of world-class spirits to this very day.

Our latest encounter with Hemingway’s favorite agricole was the Hors D’age, a blend of “very old” rums from the French department.

It has a grassy, vegetal aroma with a hint of caramel, and a rich amber colour.

The flavour profile is dominated by sugarcane, dried apricot, caramel, a hint of licorice and the slightest whisper of orange peel.

It’s a superb expression, one that would easily be at home in a great old bar in Paris. Or your bar at home.

— CJ