Savanna Créol 52 2018

Savanna has distilled on Reunion since 1870 and makes several distinct families of rum, so the label matters, and Creol 52 is its cane juice blanc, an agricole style white drawn from fresh pressed sugarcane juice rather than the distillery's molasses or Grand Arome lines. Reunion sits outside the French Caribbean AOC, so this is agricole in spirit if not in protected name.

Distilled on a column still and bottled unaged at 52 percent, it carries an unusually savoury Reunion accent. The nose mixes fresh cane, olive, saline smoke and ester lift, the palate stays fresh and minty over sugarcane and brine, and the finish turns peppery and herbal with a tobacco edge. This is a fun, offbeat blanc, rewarding neat for those who like salty, herbal spirit and reliably excellent stretched into a Ti Punch or long drink where its freshness and snap carry.