HSE Blanc

HSE, or Habitation Saint-Etienne, is an early-twentieth-century Martinique house, and this blanc is its cane-juice spirit shown raw and unaged. Distilled from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice on a creole column run low to keep the vegetal congeners in, it is the antidote to sweet molasses rum, dry and green from the first sip.

The nose is all freshness, citrus and fresh-cut cane with a floral lift, and the palate turns fruity and peppery with orange peel and a green vegetal edge. A saline, mineral note runs through the finish alongside the pepper, the hallmark briny snap of a good agricole blanc. Unsweetened and bottled at 50%, it has the extra punch a proper Ti' Punch wants, while still sipping cleanly neat for those who like their rum lean and lively.