The La Favorite distillery, built in 1842, originally employed a water wheel to power the cane-crushing mills, the first step in sugar production. At that time, the estate included two sugar refineries and a small rum distillery with five fermentation vats, a small boiler and copper pot still. Bankruptcy in 1875, followed by the hurricane of 1891 closed the estate until 1909 when Henri Dormoy purchased the property. Dormoy built a railway through the plantation to transport fresh cane from the surrounding countryside to the distillery where he installed a new distillation column and steam engine.
Today La Favorite is one of the last two family-owned distilleries on the island (along with Neisson) and produces less than 500,000 liters of AOC rhum agricole per year. La Favorite contracts with farmers to buy sugar cane grown in the central region of Martinique near the distillery. All of the La Favorite rhums exported to the US are distilled, aged and bottled at the distillery.
The fresh sugar cane aroma is high-lighted with a white oak tone which carries through the citrus and fruit body to the rich tannins in the finish. Distilled as coeur de canne, La Favorite Rhum Agricole Ambré gains it's golden tint while aging one to two years in used American bourbon barrels.
