Savanna Lontan 57.5 Grand Arôme

Lontan 57.5 is a Grand Arome from Savanna on Reunion in the Indian Ocean, and it is worth being clear what that means: despite Reunion's French-island agricole heritage, this is a molasses rum, not a cane-juice spirit. Grand Arome is the island's high-ester, long-fermentation style, a deliberately funky cousin of the Jamaican tradition, and this is the unaged white expression with nothing in the way of the spirit.

The esters are the whole point. The nose erupts with pineapple, olive, overripe berries and a fruity, fermented intensity, while the palate keeps the pineapple and olive brine over a vegetal, smoky core, finishing on more olive and overripe tropical fruit. Bottled at a punchy 57.5%, it is bright, briny and full of character, the sort of high-ester fireworks that geeks love neat and that turn a Daiquiri electric. A pour for drinkers who chase Hampden-style funk or Savanna's bigger bottlings and want similar chaos in a lighter, livelier package.