Berry Bros & Rudd Hampden 17 Year Old TWB Exclusive Cask #27. The Whisky Barrel (TWB) certainly seem to like their Hampden rums! This is the one of their latest and one of two rums available that were bottled by Berry Bros & Rudd.

This particular bottling is a single cask (cask #27). It was distilled way back in 2000 and bottled in 2018. It is noted as being 17 Years Old. The rum is 100% Pot Still. As the rum is from 2000 then it is believed to be a Diamond H marque (I can’t use the arrow keys on WordPress documents as it goes a bit crazy). So the ester count on this one is fairly “low” 200-400 g/hlaa on the scale. it is bottled at 57.2% ABV. Which will either be Cask Strength or very close to it. When this went to retail only 194 bottles were available. I am unsure of the percentage of Continental (European) and Tropical ageing but I assume the vast majority of this rums life was spent in Europe.

Presentation wise the rum comes in a tall thin Berrys Bros style bottle with their new typeface and presentation. It’s all very clean and straightforward but very classy. Information is kept soley to the rum. No fairy stories from Berrys. The rum retails at £84.95 which is more than reasonable for a 17 year old rum.

In the glass it is a straw colour. The nose is typical Hampden funk and Pineapple Juice. After 17 years of ageing though it has lost some of its youthful exhuberance.

The nose shows a nice integration of woody spice which permeates through the full on Pineapple and burnt Banana funk. This adds an extra dimension. The rum is  acidic with notes of sharp green apple peel and lime zest.

Sipping this rum you being to appreciate the 17 years continental ageing. The wood has mingled nicely with the funkier notes of the distillate to give a very complex sipper. Alongside the familiar pineapple and banana filled funk you get a really nice note of orange marmalade and some pencil shavings. Nice woody integration – oaky notes and some spiciness –  ginger and allspice. Notes not unlike Worthy Park rums as well with a nice hit of milk chocolate and breakfast tea. Milky tea though unlike Worthy Park’s more stewed black variety.

The mid palate really mellows down from the initial sip, giving a really nice overall balance to this rum. It’s been really well aged and really is a delightful treat. This is perhaps medium to low on the Hampden scale in terms of esthers, but it’s very tasty and very rewarding. The belief that more esters are automatically better is something that needs to be knocked on the head in the Rum Snob world. This shows what nonsense they are talking.

The finish is long and very peppery.  Spicy and zesty lots of orange peel and banana mingling alongside some almost curry like hot spices. A touch of turmeric and cardamom.

BBR seem to be able to take their rums and add just a tiny bit of something extra to make them stand out from the crowd. Other bottlers at 17 years old would have over oaked the rum, not so BBR. This is a very vibrant fruity rum with a lot of complexity.

Another really good Hampden at a really reasonable price. Despite me being a little slow off the mark with this review (I’ve had manflu on and off for a number of weeks now) it is still available though I suspect it will sell out soon.

I’ll be reviewing cask #54 soon. Looking forward to that one as well. I have kept some of my sample back to compare the two head to head.