The next rhum from @velierspa’s Flora Antillarum series was the 2009 @rhum.karukera. But before diving into the rhum itself, I thought to shed light into Karukera’s history, and its inextricable link to @rhum_longueteau.

Karukera isn’t a distillery, but an aging house, borne from François Longueteau’s desire to establish a portfolio of aged rhums. Shortly after the purchase of Domaine Marquisat de Sainte-Marie and the Espérance Distillery in 2005, François developed a partnership with Grégoire Hayot in 2006 to set their plans in motion, laying down their first drops of liquid to age from Longueteau. Since then, Karukera has continued refining its aging practices, resting liquid in cognac, sherry, or sauternes casks, and eventually released its first vintage rhums from Domaine Marquisat de Sainte-Marie in 2016.

This Karukera would very likely be of a similar provenance, distilled on Espérance distillery’s Creole column stills and barrelled in two ex-cognac casks - No. 183 and 188, on 15 May 2009, fully matured for 12 years in Karukera’s cellars and bottled in 2022 at cask strength of 60.4% abv.

On the nose, the Karukera was a lot more chocolatey and candied than the rest, with it rich, bold, caramel sweetness, lots of hazelnut praline, which was the absolute highlight for me, yet punctuated with some varnish in between. There were light hints of orange peels and vegetal notes, and a tad nutty as well.

The palate was equally appealing, and despite having the highest abv of the three, it was the softest on the palate. There were lots of caramelised oranges, paired with sweet milk chocolates. And as with most agricoles there were those vegetal notes too, although just enough to give it an additional layer of complexity, and lightly burnt caramel. The finish was surprisingly fruity, in fact it reminded me quite a bit of a Foursquare rum, tangy citrus peels, and with it, fruity brightness that seemed to linger on.

The Karukera was clearly my favourite among the three. That sweetness, complexity, and that wonderful combination of notes that made it seem almost like an orange chocolate bar, all of that was just perfect. And as my first Karukera rhum I’d say that I was very impressed indeed.

Image Courtesy of @weixiang_liu