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.
Be the first to comment.
Leave a comment
Savanna HERR 10 Year Old Single Cask
Savanna
A rum that literally tastes of Réunion's terroir: born on the flanks of Piton de la Fournaise, this high-ester HERR marque is one of the most singular expressions in world rum — mineral, molten, and unforgettable.
Savanna HERR Coeur de Chauffe
Savanna
A ferociously expressive grand arôme that rivals Jamaica's highest-ester rums while remaining defiantly Réunionnais. Not for the timid — this is a cocktail weapon and a study spirit for serious rum drinkers exploring how humidity, heat, and long fermentation shape a spirit's soul.
Savanna Créol Rhum Agricole Blanc
Savanna
A compelling introduction to Réunion's agricole tradition — livelier and more mineral-driven than its Martinican cousins, and a distinctive pour for those who think they've mapped the agricole world.
Savanna Rhum Vieux Traditionnel 5 Year Old
Savanna
A quietly commanding rum that rewards patient sipping — Savanna's traditionnel style bridges the fruit-forward warmth of the Caribbean with an Indian Ocean earthiness that feels wholly its own.
St. George California Agricole Rum
St. George Spirits
St. George California Agricole is a masterclass in restraint — a rum that finds its voice by stripping away everything unnecessary and letting fresh California sugarcane speak for itself. It demonstrates that constraint in production yields extraordinary clarity of flavor. A singular American expression that stands proudly alongside the finest rhum agricole blancs of the Caribbean.
El Amparo Rum
El Amparo
El Amparo is a quiet revelation — a Venezuelan rum that rewards patience and the simple act of letting the glass breathe. Its interplay of sweet and dry, tropical and earthy, makes it an ideal contemplative sipper that perfectly embodies how air shapes everything between barrel and glass.
Long Pond Special Edition ITP 15yr Old Jamaican Rum
Long Pond
This 15-year-old Long Pond ITP marque delivers a masterful balance of Jamaican character and aged refinement. The extended maturation has smoothed the pot still funk into a harmonious interplay of tropical fruit, dark sweets, and spice — a rum that feels like the final harvest of warmth before winter descends. An exceptional sipper for contemplative November evenings.
Dakabend Oaxacan Pot Still Rum
Dakabend
Dakabend is a testament to what happens when Oaxacan craft tradition — the same patient, hands-on culture that gave us artisanal mezcal — turns its attention to sugarcane. This is rum stripped to its essential truth: pot-distilled, unaged, and uncompromising. A spirit that earns your trust sip by sip through sheer transparency of process and place.