Savanna Collection Grand Arôme Port Cask Blend LMDW 2004

This is Savanna's Grand Arome line, and an important distinction sits behind the label: while Savanna also makes agricole, the Grand Arome is a high-ester, long-fermentation molasses rum, intensely funky and quite different from the distillery's cane-juice bottlings. This 2004 LMDW release spent fifteen years maturing before a port-cask blend pulled it toward darker fruit.

Port wood stamps the nose with sour cherry, raisin and tropical fruit over woody, solventy notes, and the palate follows with cherry, raspberry and chocolate wrapped around firm oak. The finish is long, woody and spiced, carried by the bright acidity that defines the style. Bottled at full strength of 49.2% with the funk left intact, it is a vivid, characterful sipper, rewarding for anyone curious about what high-ester molasses rum and port cask do together.