Karukera Single Cask 2009

Karukera, relaunched in 2002, is a Guadeloupe agricole producer known for single-cane bottlings. This 2009 single cask is a long-aged expression made from fresh-pressed sugarcane juice rather than molasses, bottled at full strength from a single barrel.

Distilled through a column still in the house style and matured eleven years in ex-bourbon oak, it keeps a pronounced agricole character through its age: a minty, herbaceous nose of sugarcane, flowers, earth and cinnamon with a subtle varnish edge, a palate of cane, tropical fruit, oak and vanilla, and a peppery, lime-and-sugarcane finish. At 52.2% the cask strength carries that depth without aggression. There is no claimed added sugar. An aged single cask with as much to chew on as to drink, full of fruit and citrus, it rewards slow neat sipping with a little water to draw out the herbal notes.