Whisky Jury The Ester Hunter Catch 8 - Le Galion
Reviewer: Pickwick
Distillery: Le Galion
Origin: La Trinité, Martinique
Bottle Size: 700 ml
Bottle Count: 255
ABV: 59.1%
Distilled: 2023
Base Material: Molasses
Still: Column
Aging specs: Unstated; presumed continental aging
Bottled: May 2026
Nose: Cloves, tropical fruit, rubber cement, cotton candy, oak, lime zest
Palate: Menthol, cinnamon, grapefruit, brine, dry erase marker, fermented watermelon, grilled peaches
Finish: Camphor, grapefruit zest, Sharpie marker, oregano
Given we named our rum review website after esters, it will surely come as no surprise that a series called “The Ester Hunter” is right up our alley. Unfortunately, The Whisky Jury is an independent bottler out of Belgium and they don’t have distribution in the United States. Enter once again Excellence Rhum, where several of the to-date nine Ester Hunter bottlings can currently be purchased, including this one. (This is not an ad. But when you get as into rum as we have, eventually Excellence is going to come into the picture.)
It is possible to get grand arôme rum in the States - Raising Glasses has a Le Galion release which I also own, for one - but a lot of it is unaged, which is befitting the historical use of these pungent high-ester rums as more like seasoning. By naming its series The Ester Hunter, Whisky Jury starts from the presumption that someone buying rums like this is actually into it for the intense, complex flavors of the rum itself rather than just using it to goose a Mai Tai or what have you - and they’re correct to do so.
This is not a rum for the faint of heart. Heck, the first time I tasted unaged Le Galion it was a pretty rough ride. But once you’ve found your way down the garden path, there’s just so much there. There’s tons going on just on the nose here; there’s a big hit of rubber cement, unsurprisingly, but also fruit, spice, and light barrel-aged sweetness. The palate is even richer, opening with a burst of menthol and cinnamon but expanding into a variety of fruit notes (including fruit that tastes like it’s fermenting or charring over a grill), a whiff of salty brine that calls to mind the distillery’s location near the Atlantic coast, and the characteristic note of marker. The finish goes on for quite a while, initially leaving cooling camphor notes and eventually resolving into green herbs. You’re not going to stop tasting this one any time soon.
Many people would be hard-pressed even to recognize this as rum. It will not be for everybody. If you need a crowd-pleaser, there are a lot of other places to start. But if what you’re looking for is flavor, there’s no doubt you’re going to find it here. The small amount of aging (likely under three years [40 months at the absolute maximum] and almost certainly all continental) is enough to sand off some of the really raw edges of full-strength unaged grand arôme, while both retaining and adding a bit of color (literally and figuratively) to the existing cornucopia of flavor. If you like powerful rums like high-ester Hampden and heavy Caroni, you ought to at least give this a try. The 4 on the Haste scale is almost by default; most people reading this will have no choice but to ship it in, but if the above sounds good to you it’s definitely worth including in an order.
Taste/Haste Scale: 5 / 4
