Spirit Gallery Le Galion Funky Fury (#1) 2024

Spirit Gallery chose this 2024 Le Galion as the first in its Funky Fury line, and despite Martinique's agricole fame, this one is made from molasses rather than cane juice, distilled on a column still and left unaged so the fermentation character hits full force. The result is a high ester rum that wears its funk openly.

The nose is loud with esters, fermented strawberry and overripe tropical fruit, the palate turns to sour strawberry yoghurt, pineapple and olive, and the finish brings smoke, roast and a bacon and brine edge. Bottled unsweetened at 57 percent, it is a deliberately polarising spirit in the spirit of the heaviest Jamaicans, salty, fruity and a little feral. It rewards experienced palates ready for something genuinely strange, equally at home neat for the curious or shaken into a Daiquiri that needs a jolt of personality.