HSE Small Cask 2016

A small cask bottling from HSE, the Habitation Saint-Etienne in Martinique, distilled at the Distillerie du Simon and matured a little over six years. Small barrels mean more wood contact for the age, and as an AOC Martinique agricole this is fresh-pressed cane juice with no added sugar, run off a creole column and bottled unsweetened at 46%.

The extra oak contact shows in a spice-led, dessert-leaning profile that keeps an earthy agricole heart. The nose offers baking spice, caramel, cocoa and sugar cane, while the palate turns to butterscotch, spice, baked apple and nutmeg. Rounded citrus and nutty fruit fill the middle, and there is a clear candied sweetness that not every agricole drinker will want, though it stays balanced against the earthy cane. Easy and glugging in feel at 46%, it bridges the gap between approachable and characterful, a relaxed sipper that still tastes of its origin.