Écrin de fumée Serge Lutens 2023

Martinique in the evening, rainy season.

The hotel has hardly any guests due to the low season, it's already late and I'm the last one at the beach bar.
It's made of old solid wood and already has a few nicks. Some guests have immortalized themselves here. The leather-covered stools are completely worn and tanned... hand-carved ornaments on the teak bar catch my eye. A light film has settled on the motifs. Only fleetingly wiped off with a cloth, so that there is still dust in the deeper bays.

I get on quite well with the barman Serge, he showed me photos of his family and I tried one of his favorite cigars. The tobacco is as dark and heavy as the night sky, under which the palm trees sway in the Caribbean wind.

I'm tired and want to go to my room, but my bartender friend insists on one last, special nightcap.
He pulls out a casket from under the bar, walnut brown wood with heavy, rusty hinges that a pirate could have buried himself.
It creaks as it opens and I recognize a bulbous bottle. The dim light refracts in the amber-colored contents, the faded label no longer reveals what I'm getting myself into.
I do my new friend a favor and pour myself a glass.
Contrary to expectations, my throat doesn't burn as I empty the contents of the glass in one go. Instead, I feel warm; the sweet sugar cane has probably worked for decades to develop such a balanced, rounded aroma. Dark, restrained sweetness and a subtle spiciness disguise the alcohol, I don't care about the guaranteed hangover in the morning.
I say goodbye and sway towards my hotel room, the bar closes behind me and is secured from the approaching tropical shower.
The way to my room seems to take forever, no wonder, the grounds are extensive and lead me through vast cocoa plantations, the air makes me a little more sober and I imagine that vanilla also grows here on the edge of the hotel's own plantation.
I find my room door, despite slight orientation problems and a few attempts to open it.

I fall into bed and take in the ever softening breeze of a night of drinking.

This is my second visit to the Lutens hotel chain, my first visit to the 5 o' clock au gingembre made me a fan, this second visit makes me a permanent guest.

Fantastic house, with attention to detail that deserves the same amount of love I put into this review.