Carrere Montebello Le Brut de fût 2019

Montebello, made at the Carrere distillery on Basse-Terre, is a traditional Guadeloupe agricole house, and this Brut de Fut is a single cask drawn young and bottled at full strength. It is distilled from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice rather than molasses, the cane character still very much in charge after only a short spell in wood.

Three years of tropical ageing in ex-bourbon oak gives more than the figure suggests, the island heat pulling colour and a light oak spice into the spirit while leaving the freshness intact. The nose is bright with citrus, fresh sugarcane and a vegetal green edge, the palate honeyed and peppery over cane with a licorice note, and the finish stays cane-driven with woody, earthy spice. Unsweetened and bottled at 52.3%, it is energetic and well balanced, a young single cask with plenty of character.