Tasting Notes for Hampden Estate Pure Single Jamaican Rum
Nose: Voluptuous and intense with notes or caramalized apple and sweet spices mixed with a delicate touch of smokiness.
Taste: Fascinatingly smooth and dry at the same time. Pleasant notes of wood, tropical fruits and resin.
Finish: Complex and multi-faceted, it lingers on the palate, leaving a long-lasting impression.
Overall: Silky smooth and tropical. From mixing to sipping, an extremely versitile rum.
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This renowned distillery is located in the Trelawny Parish in the north west of Jamaica, an area historically representing the grand cru of Jamaican rum, characterized by an incredible biodiversity. Hampden Estate has been in continuous operation since its founding in 1753, making it one of the oldest estates in the Caribbean. It has maintained the same production methods and techniques for the last two centuries, such as the use of its own spring water, prolonged fermentation time with wild yeasts, tropical ageing, no added colorants and sugar, and distillation exclusively in pot stills. This time-tested production process allows the rum to develop a very distinctive ester profile which brings us the intense aroma and distinct flavours which can only be described as funk. Hampden Estate rum really is Jamaican Funk at its wonderful best.
With the release of Hampden Estate 46 and Hampden Estate 60, the Estate have created their very first aged distillery releases in 265 years, which both celebrate the uniqueness of Jamaican rum production and present Hampden to the world stage. Hampden Estate 46 is produced using the Estate's natural spring water using wild yeast for fermentation. No additives of any kind are added before it is matured in for a minimum of 8 years in the tropical climate of Jamaica. -
Hampden is an old-line Jamaican rum distillery which has been in continuous production since 1753, and is by far the most unchanged from how it looked and operated hundreds of years ago. It produces the funkiest, highest ester rum of any Jamaican distillery, the direct result of a fermentation process that is unique, and impossible to replicate anywhere else. 250 years of fermentation in the same room have built up a unique microbiota of fungus and yeast which populate a mystery fluid residing in brick-lined pits set into the ground, and start fermenting. This process takes a variable amount of time from batch to batch and can last up to several weeks, with the antique fermentation room and ancient equipment monitored by the most high tech devices available to ensure that its fermented molasses is only moved to the still house when it is just right.
Hampden has four pot stills from three continents: Two Forsyths from Scotland, a Vendome from Kentucky, and the last from T&T Engineering in South Africa and is one of only 2 Jamaican distilleries which are pot still only. Maturation is done on site, and the ageing rooms are in an adjoining building, along with the large “pool” where they produce the pure sugar cane vinegar which, added at the fermentation stage, gives Hampden rum its unique and unmistakable aromatic bouquet.
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Producer Hampden Estate Distillery Style Rum Age A minimum of 8 years Volume 70CL ABV 46%