La Favorite Sélection de fûts 2012

La Favorite is one of the last family-run distilleries inside the city of Fort-de-France, and this Selection de futs is a 2012 vintage carrying the Martinique AOC. Distilled from fresh-pressed sugar cane juice with no added sugar, it was aged nine and a half years and bottled at cask strength, 49.3%.

Tropical maturation has given the creole column spirit a spice-forward, drier profile than sweet molasses rum, with the grassy cane core wrapped in toasted oak, black pepper and cinnamon. Ripe banana and roasted almonds lead the palate, the finish turns to tobacco and earthy wood, and the whole thing stays controlled despite sitting near 50%. It rewards a rest in the glass and rewards attention, a characterful old agricole for slow sipping rather than mixing, more expressive than the lighter younger vintages from the same house.