La Favorite's Vieux expression has plenty of flavor and personality for it's 42% ABV.

La Favorite is one of the smaller distilleries on the island of Martinique; Modern Caribbean Rum says they make just 1% of the islands AOC designated agricole. Similar to Neisson I think there’s a little built-in pro little guy bias, and while it can be hard to get your hands on in the states I came into this tasting with a received understanding that La Favorite is “doing things right” and focusing on quality.

We measured a density of 0.943g/cc and a refractive index of 1.3561, suggesting no additives, and in line with the requirements for the Martinique Rhum Agricole AOC.

La Favorite Vieux is one of the more complex noses in our lineup. You’ve got the standard fresh apple notes, but there’s also some deeper, rounder fruitiness, along with some sharper lemon and pine notes. The palate moderates a bit sticking to apple, oak, leather, and conifer. The finish is robust for its proof, and indexes on more of the same.

In our blind taste test we thought it was good as a neat sipper (7.4/10) and great as a mixer (8.5/10—our second highest out of the lineup). This is a solid rum; it lands on the more intense side of the personality spectrum among your standard release agricoles, which is impressive given its modest 42% ABV. It may not be the best rum to introduce a friend to agricole for the first time, but beyond that it’s great in a snifter and kills in a Three Dots & A Dash.

The Superficial: Similar to the other updated La Favorite bottles, this one is awesome. The label is classy and matte, the glass has a lot of fun texture reminiscent of an abstract sugar cane field, and the wooden topper with natural cork feels great. If there’s a downside its that the 1L bottle is pretty tall.