Karukera Single Cask (Brandy de Sherry) 2014

A single cask from Karukera, the Guadeloupe estate relaunched in 2002 and known for single-cane bottlings. This is a vintage 2014, seven years old, distilled from fresh-pressed cane juice and matured in a cask that previously held brandy de sherry, then bottled unsweetened at full cask strength of 65.1%.

The sherry and brandy cask dominates here, and it does so dramatically. Expect heavy sulphur, a struck-match intensity that some drinkers find overwhelming, wrapped around dark cherry, spice and woody depth. The palate carries the same cherry and dried fruit over spice, finishing on cherry stone, brandy warmth and burnt sugar. The high strength and the cask's sulphurous streak make this a polarising, uncompromising rum rather than an easy crowd-pleaser, best approached slowly and with water on hand. One for drinkers who actively enjoy big, sulphur-driven sherry character on an agricole frame.