Rhum Clément Creole Shrubb liqueur is 40%abv. / 80 proof. It is a Curacao orange liqueur produced and estate bottled at Habitation Clément in Martinique, and it has only recently become available in the US.

It has a medium light body to it and is a light orange gold in color. The aroma is an intoxicating blend of Curacao orange peels and musky Rhum Agricole, with a touch of exotic tropical spices.

The taste is much less sweet than similar orange liqueurs and very smooth on your tongue. It has a deliciously sharp and slightly bitter orange zest flavor that wakes up your palate immediately. I find that there is a complex, and quite different orange flavor than I have experienced with other orange liqueurs. It is tart and tangy, as well as full and round. The bitter orange is balanced nicely with the sweetness from pure, freshly crushed, sugar cane syrup and a sprinkle of Caribbean spices. The whole liqueur is carried on a solid base of fine, dry, wood aged rum. It has an extraordinarily long finish, rich with the essence of orange, rum, wood tannins, and just the barest hint of spice that lasts and lasts.

Creole Shrubb is one of the most enjoyable liqueurs I have ever experienced. I hope you get the chance to as well.

In making Creole Shrubb liqueur, Rhum Clement uses white Curacao orange peels that are sun-bleached because they feel that they have an unmistakable quality. Then they add certain spices in a secret recipe, but vanilla, nutmeg and cloves are some they did disclose to me. The peels and spices are macerated together with their own pure sugar cane syrup and slowly infused and infused into a blend of their white and aged rums. Then the mixture rests for 6-8 weeks in oak casks to let all the flavors come together into a harmonious whole.

The rums that Rhum Clement uses in making the Creole Shrubb liqueur are their dry, musky, wood cask aged, Rhum Agricole. This is made differently than many other types of rum and was invented by Homère Clement back in the 1800's. Homère Clément was a physician and member of the French parliament, and he purchased the Acajou Estate on Martinique in 1887. He spent some time observing the distillers of France's great Armagnac's and Cognacs and experimented with some of their methods. In doing so he developed a whole new way of making rum.

Instead of using molasses as the base for fermentation and distillation, he decided to crush fresh sugar cane at the peak of maturity. This sugar cane crush (juice) he then fermented into vesou (sugar wine) and distilled.
Unlike rums made with molasses which can be made year round, the fermentation and distillation of Rhum Agricole can only take place during one time each year, right after the sugar cane harvest. The freshly distilled raw rum is then aged in a complex mix of Limousin and American oak barrels to get different flavor characteristics. This gives you rums that are more like fine and dry cognacs, than other sweet and dark rums. It is a very different style, and one that I will discuss in detail when I spend some time focusing on rum.

In 1996 the Rhum Agricole from Martinique became the only rum granted a French Appellation d'Origine Controlée (A.O.C.). A.O.C rums are at the top of the official French quality scale and must comply with legal restrictions on cane varieties, yield, distillation, aging, and production zone. Rhum Clement is one of the leading producers of Rhum Agricole in Martinique.