La Favorite Coeur de Rhum

La Favorite is a family-run Martinique distillery, and Coeur de Rhum is its accessible aged agricole, a 5 year old pressed from fresh cane juice and bottled unsweetened under the AOC at 40%. It sits in the vieux tier, offering oak-aged character at an everyday strength and price.

Maturation in ex-bourbon oak adds a gentle frame to the cane: a nose of licorice, green cane, earth and sugarcane, a palate of musty wood, raisin and spice, then a finish of barrel, sugarcane, spice and orange peel. The wood influence is restrained, leaving plenty of fresh, green agricole character showing through, and the value it offers stands out. An honest, unforced aged agricole for relaxed sipping rather than a heavyweight, with the grassy cane core intact beneath the oak.