Kafe Utu is one of Singapore's most cherished F&B institutions, also one of the country's very few that serves up a hearty mix of African cuisine and some incredible rums - I'm personally a massive fan of their lamb samosas, lamb stew and nakupenda fried dough and ice cream dessert! It's always struck me as amusing to have heard raves from two very different demographics in my life, with either food lovers saying how unique the food is, and rum lovers telling me how awesome their rum bar (helmed by the wonderfully friendly Joma) is! Universally though, everyone will say that Kafe Utu has incredibly aesthetic decor and great hospitality - I have to concur. I've even been told that once a TV show had asked to film their interior designs.

Kafe Utu is truly a unique spot unto its own! Great food, incredible rums, even their own artisanal coffee!

More recently though, Kafe Utu has opened up a second, more intimate dining and drinking experience - just down the road sits Tamba. And again, you have to admit that much of what everyone loves around Kafe Utu has been exported over, with some incredibly insane interior designs. After all the word 'Utu' is the Kiswahili word for 'humanity', and I think it's safe to say that all of humanity (at least locally) is a big fan of the folks behind Kafe Utu - if you aren't, you just probably have not made your maiden visit.

Kafe Utu's newest outfit Tamba promises an even more intimate experience. And just look at their star bartender Joma go!

Yet, there is at least one more achievement that we have to talk about here - which is that Kafe Utu and Tamba now has their very first rum expression bottled for them! In conjunction with famed spirits distributor La Maison du Whisky (Singapore), they've now bottled a bottle of white rum from Reunion Island's Savanna! And this is no ordinary Savanna, as fans would be thrilled to hear - this is Savanna's legendary HERR! And on top of that, in spite of it being a clear rum, what if I told you it's actually 6 years 'old'?

But first, let's talk about Savanna.

The magical island that is Reunion Island.

Now how many folks would be able to point out Reunion Island on a map? If you are, well congratulations because you certainly deserve a dram of this Savanna for doing so! The Reunion Island is an incredibly small island off the east coast of Madagascar - just four hours southwest is Johannesburg, South Africa. The island has a deep French connection - technically it's a French department - where it lies off the coast of South Africa's Cape of Good Hope.

And thus strangely enough, it perhaps might not be your first thought when you think rum-making. And yet the island has carved out an impressive reputation for itself, centered on its distinct rum identity. The island has, like many other rum-making areas, had a long history of sugar production, as a result of the French government's doing in the late 1800's when it became clear to the French that they could no longer rely on Haiti and Mauritius for sugar. At one point, the island would be home to near 200 sugar factories - and yet today there are only three.

Savanna Distillery.

I won't go into too much detail, but it's worth knowing that the Savanna estate itself traces its origins back to the 17th century, in Saint-Paul, west Reunion Island, and it was in fact a stock broker in the early 1900's who had first gotten Savanna into rum-making. His son would not only continue to build upon the family's business, but would be a notable man of the community, who had done much to build out the island's electrical infrastructure. Nevertheless rum-making at Savanna only really went into hyperdrive in the late 1990's when the distillery's Head of R&D and Distillery Manager had begun to actively sought the production of what's known as Grand Arome rums. 

The concept of Grand Arome rums had already existed between Martinique and Reunion Island for centuries, yet Martinique had forwent the style, instead opting to focus on the more herbal and floral sugarcane juice based rhum agricoles. By 2003, Savanna was ready to launch rums under its own name, and began to forge a serious name for itself. Already after all, Savanna, even in the wild world of rums, was incredibly unique - it is able to produce everything from sugarcane juice rums (agricultural rums) to molasses rums (traditional rums), and is able to do so using an assortment of distillation stills from a Savalle column still to an Alembic pot still. Now add another layer of various cask finishes including Port, Moscatel, Calvados, Sherry and Armagnac - the possibilities are quite likely the widest of any distillery. 

Seemingly nondescript distillation stills that are in fact producing some very intriguing spirits. 

And whilst the distillery produces a fairly wide range of rums, inarguably the HERR indication (High Ester Rum Reunion, traditional (molasses) rum, pot distilled) Grand Arome rum sits right at the top of what gets rum fans going! The distillery happens to sit close by to its own sugar factory, from which it is able to procure fresh cane juice and molasses, which in turn are harvested off the island's steep terrains, with 60-70% of the cane being cut by hand by small-scale farmers in the area.

The Legendary Grand Arome

Now, going deeper in to what Savanna is most known for (and what is of most interest to the rum community) - the Grand Arome rums. The revival of the Grand Arome style was an effort to distinguish Savanna from purely being a bulk rum supplier - it's probably what is most unique about Savanna and keeps the rum community interested.

The Grand Arome style is typically mentioned interchangeably with being high ester, however, yet there seems to be a slight nuance to this. "Grand Arome" refers to a broad style of higher ester rums (legally defined by French legislation as being a molasses rum with a minimum non-alcohol content of 800 g/hlap, including 500 g/hlap in esters), however, the distillery appears to distinguish between Lontan (another class of rums Savanna produces) and the HERR marque (High Ester Rum Reunion) - it's worth noting that the two are similar yet not the same.

Kafe Utu and Tamba's very own Savanna HERR! Possibly the most exciting rum bottling in the country this year!

That is to say - both the Lontan and HERR are Grand Aromes by way of surpassing the French legal definition, however, the Lontan focuses of aromas, whilst the HERR focuses on taste. Both are nevertheless produced on the basis of adding vinasse (leftover residue from previous distillation) to the fermentation mixture (in a closed environment where the precise bacteria desired is added intentionally, as opposed to spontaneous or "wild" fermentation) to trigger a competition with the yeast from the emergence of the added culture, as well as extended fermentation times for more esters to be produced.

The HERR differs from the Lontan in at least three major ways:

• Longer Fermentation Time for HERR,
• Exposed to a different set of bacteria culture,
• HERR is pot distilled instead of column distilled.

And so today we have the incredibly exciting Savanna HERR 2018 that's jointly bottled by Kafe Utu, Tamba and La Maison du Whisky Singapore. Accordingly, as we see on the back label, this rum was bottled in 2024, the result of a whopping 6 years of resting in stainless steel! Now, that doesn't technically count towards the age of the rum because ageing is primarily used as a manner of accounting for how much wood influence there's been on the spirit via time in the cask, and so this remains a 6 year old, 'unaged' rum. That said, it should have the effect of mellowing out the rums, which again at this extent, is incredibly over the top time-wise, and should have a massive bearing on the rum itself. We'll see!

There are but 800 bottles of these, and already 100 has flown off the shelves before it was even officially released - so if you want a piece of history, head on over to Kafe Utu or Tamba, and of course get the lamb stew too, and drop on over and say hi to Joma! It's also bottled at 62.5% ABV.

Let's get to it!

Rum Review: Savanna HERR 2018, Rum Of The World, Kafe Utu, Tamba & LMDW Singapore Joint Bottling, 62.5% ABV

Tasting Notes

Colour: Clear

Aroma: It opens up confectionary with a higher toned acetone touch - bubblegum, Hi-Chew gummies, alittle bit of diesel. Then there's the slight nuttiness that begins to come through, along with a deeper and richer umaminess of soy bean lees or okara. It's almost reminiscent of a mix of jiang xiang (sauce aroma) and nong xiang (strong aroma) baijiu. More on soy sauce, some hay, that fermented sugarcane vinasse. Yet for all these more exotic and higher toned aromas, it's certainly not sharp, with a really deep richness and mellowness - it takes on a more candied and umami profile instead. Rich, rounded and evocative.

Taste: Incredibly rich, it starts off very concentrated and precise. It's a combined hit of umami soy sauce and an assortment of candied fruits as in the form of tanghulu (maltose coated fresh fruits). Drops of that higher toned diesel, yet balanced out by that incredibly deep and concentrated rich sweetness. Medium-bodied here, with a creaminess to the palate. It initially starts off intensely umami, giving also dried mushrooms and hay, along with that candied sweetness of fruits, yet as it glosses to the finish, it takes a much sweeter and richer touch, with more on cane syrup. It's impeccably expressive, yet with such a well-defined structure and distinct flavour profile, almost immaculately designed. It's intense and concentrated with flavour, yet in and of itself, surprisingly mellow and creamy, with not much heat at all.

Finish: More on that barnyard hay, soy bean lees, along with sugarcane vinasse, and of course drops of diesel. It is sweet and rich along the finish, fading out into velvety and rounded maltose candy and cane syrup. 

My Thoughts 

This was an incredibly impressive expression from Savanna's HERR! What really impressed me was how the whopping 6 years of rest seem to have brought out more intensely and clearly the HERR character, which I found to be a combination of umaminess and candied fruitiness much akin to some of the most prized baijiu's. Here it's not sharp or spicy, instead delivered in incredibly mellowed and rich fashion, allowing you to lean in to the higher toned flavours and scents. The body here is much more rounded, and because there's no interaction with wood, what you find here is an incredibly rare example of the purity of the HERR flavour profile that's been concentrated and at the same time made that much more accessible because of that steep resting period.

On its own, the rum came off intensely aromatic and flavour, bold and concentrated, incredibly expressive, detailed and precise. It has a really firm and structured body and flavour profile, that as mentioned before is rich and mellowed, with no sharpness or edginess. On the palate, it strikes with such focus and then it begins to fan out, opening up and taking a more lifted, richer and sweeter quality of cane syrup. All the whilst it kept its richness, broadly starting off umami yet ending off much sweeter by the finish.

A thoroughly impressive and incredibly rare, pure expression of one of the world's most prized and highly regarded high ester cane spirit - a must try for any rum fan, and definitely deserving of a spot in the collection of any high ester rum geek or Savanna fan. And just as well a piece of Kafe Utu lore! Congratulations Kafe Utu and Tamba! To many more rum bottlings ahead!

Kanpai!

@111hotpot