Karukera Single Cask 2014

Karukera is a Guadeloupe agricole distillery relaunched in 2002 and known for single cane bottlings, working from fresh pressed sugar cane juice under the island's IGP rather than the Martinique AOC. This single cask carries a 2014 vintage and six years in ex bourbon oak, bottled at full cask strength, a young but intense expression of aged Guadeloupe cane juice.

The nose is powerful and inviting, red fruits, young wood, a vegetal lift and dried figs, while the palate brings cinnamon, mint, dried apricot and a marked sulphur note, the finish staying woody and sulphurous with cherry and red fruit. That sulphur splits opinion, lending savoury depth for some while overshadowing the fruit for others, a distinctive quirk of this particular barrel. At a fiery 61.8% and unsweetened, it is a big, full proof agricole that demands water and patience, a vivid single cask for drinkers who like their cane juice rum intense and characterful.