Saint James Cœur de chauffe

Saint James has been distilling on Martinique since 1765, and this Coeur de chauffe captures the heart of the run from its pot still, bottled unaged and unsweetened at a bracing 60%. Distilled from fresh pressed sugarcane juice rather than molasses, it sits firmly in the agricole tradition, with the grassy, vegetal snap that defines a proper blanc.

The nose opens on cut cane, florals and a green grassy lift, while the palate turns drier and hotter, peppery and citrus edged with a faintly bitter cane finish. A pot still run gives it more weight and texture than the lighter creole column blancs, and the full strength keeps everything vivid. It rewards a splash of water or a wedge of lime, and shows best stirred into Ti Punch where its intensity has room to breathe.