Savanna Lontan Grand Arôme 10 Year Old
Savanna · Distillerie Savanna
A visceral, memory-imprinting rum that showcases Réunion's singular Grand Arôme tradition. Not for the timid, but for lovers of Jamaican DOK and Caroni heavies, it's essential.
Nose
An arresting wave of overripe banana, black olive brine, and glue-like ester funk gives way to burnt sugar, tropical fruit compote, and a whiff of tar. Beneath it: candied pineapple, damp leather, and warm baking spice.
Palate
Oily and dense, coating the mouth with molasses, pineapple skin, black tea, and clove. The high-ester profile drives fermented mango, varnish, and green olive, while cask time layers in cocoa nib, tobacco leaf, and warm oak.
Finish
Long, resinous, and pleasantly funky — smoldering brown sugar, dried apricot, and a faint volcanic minerality that lingers like heat radiating off stone.
- Base Ingredient
- Sugarcane molasses from Réunion Island
- Distillation
- Long-fermentation (up to 10+ days) Grand Arôme wash, distilled in copper column and pot stills, then aged 10 years tropically in ex-Cognac and ex-bourbon casks in Réunion's humid climate.
- Country
- Saint-André, Réunion Island, France
Cocktail Suggestion
The Trade Wind — 1.5 oz Savanna Lontan Grand Arôme 10, 0.75 oz fresh lime juice, 0.5 oz falernum, 0.25 oz demerara syrup, 2 dashes Angostura bitters. Shake with crushed ice, pour unstrained into a rocks glass, garnish with a charred pineapple wedge and mint sprig.
Food Pairing
Grilled pineapple with sea salt and black pepper, or a slow-braised oxtail with allspice and dark chocolate mole.
Founded in 1870 on the volcanic slopes of Réunion, Distillerie Savanna keeps alive the near-extinct Grand Arôme method — a long, controlled fermentation using vinasse and dunder pits that produces some of the highest-ester rums on Earth.
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