Père Labat 59

Very earthy, good for ti punch or daiquiri, but I'm missing some of the raw cane juice flavors that other rhums have. Sipping (with some water): 3. Mixing: 4. Since mixing is more important for this kind of rhum, overall 3.75 it is.

This came highly recommended, and is good, but not as great as I was hoping. The aroma has some grassy sugar cane, but also some unexpected bits, almost salty. There is not as much fruit as most other agricoles I've tried. There's also a fair bit of alcohol on the nose. That goes double for the taste, where to be honest the alcohol is a bit too prominent for my liking. The saltiness is there again, along with a mineral quality. There's also a bit of lemon and perhaps faint notes of other citrus and a general tropical flowery fruitiness. The citrus and salt carry through to the finish along with a powerful alcohol punch that comes off as almost medicinal. This is the first agricole I've tried from Guadeloupe and it definitely standards apart from the Martinique ones I've had. I don't know how much of that is just Labat or how much reflects a Guadeloupe style or what. Either way, compared to something like Clement, JM, or La Favorite, this is much lighter on fruit and sugar, and much heavier on salt, minerals, and alcohol. It still unquestionably has that sugarcane agricole foundation, but it goes in a different direction from there. Also, the overall taste is much "leaner", less rounded and flowery and more acute and spare, if that makes sense. I like it! At this point I'm not sure what an agricole blanc would have to be like for me to recognize it as agricole blanc and yet not like it. That said, I don't like it as much as other agricoles I've tried. It's a little too in-your-face for me, especially with the alcohol blast, and also salt and minerals are not really my preferred region of flavor space. I'm definitely glad I tried it, though. And, naturally, it does make a good ti punch, so there's no losers here. It was $43 for a liter bottle, which is more or less comparable to most other agricoles. I won't be buying it again right away, but I wouldn't be surprised if after some time my curiosity leads me towards giving it another try.