La Favorite Exploration No. 2 2015

La Favorite is one of the last family-run distilleries in Martinique, working from fresh-pressed sugar-cane juice under the AOC. This Exploration No. 2 comes from the 2015 vintage and is bottled unsweetened, an experimental release built around the distillery's work on barrel toasting.

Distilled on a Creole column, the still that keeps agricole grassy by running low, and matured in ex-bourbon oak before bottling at 47.8%, it balances freshness against roasted depth. The nose offers oak, mango, dried apricot and a fresh lift, the palate brings oak, apricot, roasted notes and licorice, and the finish turns to roasted coffee, licorice and oak. This is a dry, characterful young agricole where citrus, floral spice and toasted wood sit in balance rather than sweetness, rewarding drinkers who like their cane-juice rum lively and oak-marked.