La Favorite Rhum Agricole L’Authentique Ambré

La Favorite is a family-run Martinique distillery at Fort-de-France, one of the last working independent estates, and this L'Authentique Ambre is its lightly aged amber, distilled from fresh-pressed sugarcane juice on a creole column and rested a year in ex-bourbon oak under the island's unsweetened tradition.

That short spell in cask, the AOC elevage sous bois style, takes the edge off the raw cane and layers in vanilla and soft caramel while keeping the lime and sugarcane freshness intact. The nose is fruity with vanilla and cane, the palate vanilla, caramel, lime and pepper, the finish gently woody. At 42.5% it is light and well rounded, a fruity, easygoing agricole that drinks readily in a ti vieux over ice and offers good value for a young vieux.