Karukera Millésime 1997

This Millesime from Karukera is a 1997 vintage from Guadeloupe, distilled from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice and bottled at 46.3%, falling under the IGP rather than the Martinique AOC. Karukera is known for single-cane releases, and this is one of its older statements.

Age has drawn it into a herbal, gently savoury register, with spicy and aniseed-led notes, subtle fruit and tea on the nose, a palate of cherry, herbs and soft spice, and a finish carrying herbal, vegetal and honeyed notes over light oak. A cool saline streak runs through it, adding interest alongside the dried fruit. At 46.3% it is flavourful yet easygoing, more about nuance than power, and some find it slightly lean at the proof. A relaxed, characterful aged agricole for an unhurried evening, well suited to drinkers who enjoy herbal, lightly woody Guadeloupe rum.