Hampden Estate The New York Edition. When you’re in Nuuuu Yooooorkk………Apologies I can’t say I’m a big fan of that song. It’s just got in my head. I’m more a “Moving to New York” by The Wombats kind of guy, all told but never mind. Shall we talk about rum instead of music? Anyone would think I was trying to be Serge from Whiskyfun. Yes, let’s talk rum.

In all fairness, in comparison to us Europeans the Yanks have a pretty, well inferior rum selection. They especially suffer when it comes to Independently bottled single cask rum. They tend to get overly excited and hype up pretty average bottlings such as Doctor Bird (I can hear the cat calls but come on it’s really nothing special).

Anyway, the title for this particular bottling has been cut short a little as it was quite wordy and I couldn’t work out which were best to use. This is a distillery bottling which has been 100% aged at Hampden Estate. If the presentation reminds you of anything – yes its the opaque Velier bottle, then it’s because Velier are/were the distributor of this particular release.

To give this rum it’s full title it would be Hampden Estate The New York Edition 2010 LROK Single Cask No. 327 Single Jamaican Rum. Which in turn, has probably given you quite a bit of information on the rum in this bottle.

Hampden Estate The New York Edition is 5th out of 8 in terms of ester levels amongst the Hampden Estate Rum Marques. LROK – Light Rum Owen Kelly who was one of the original sugar planters at Hampden Estate. The description of the acronym may lead you to expect a “light” type of rum. In terms of Hampden rum marques “light” is a million miles away from something Bacardi might term as light.

As this is from Hampden Estate it is 100% Pot Still rum. Distilled on their Forsyths Pot Stills and aged in ex-bourbon barrels. The rum has been matured entirely at Hampden Estate for 9 years. I have a sample from bottle number 160 of 267 that were produced. It was bottled at Cask Strength 59% ABV

In terms of pricing and presentation Hampden Estate The New York Edition comes in a standard opaque Velier bottle. The colour code for this release is a rather gaudy yellow (bordering on flourescent) and black with some use of a red font. The rum comes with a yellow cardboard box to store the rum in. In terms of retail I’m not sure how much it orgiinally sold for. I would imagine it was considerably less than the price paid by one bidder at auction recently though.

I think that wraps up the introduction so lets do the fun bit.

In the glass Hampden Estate The New York Edition is a nice golden brown colour with an orange tinge to it. It doesn’t look to have been coloured in anyway. I expect nothing less to be fair.

The nose for this “light” rum is phelonic quite acidic with a fair amount of wallpaper paste and some rotting (though very sweet) bananas.

Sounds lovely doesn’t it? Actually, it is it’s a really nice interesting, very intense Jamaican funk type of nose. Even though this is relatively low in esters it’s still funky and full of action.

Time in the glass reveals slughtly fermented unsweetened Pineapple Juice and bucketloads of black banana and a peppery oaky spice, with just a tiny hint of mustiness.

Notes of raisins and sultanas come through as well adding a sweeter less aggressive age to the rum. There’s a slight aroma of petrol and gas.

Strangely despite all this disparate components and the wide range of aromas on display it is oddly balanced. It’s not over the top in any particular department and overall the nose is…..quite lovely!

Sipped the Hampden Estate The New York Edition is quite acidic and fruity at the same time. Lots of citrus on the entry. Lime Juice and some sharp Jif Lemon concentrate. There is a nice weight of oaky spice there as well which cuts through some of the acidity and stops it from being overwhelming.

Hampden Estate The New York Edition has a wonderful richness on the mid palate and a slightly perfumed hit on the back of the palate. Everything promised on the nose is delivered as you move into the mid palate. Sweet notes of rum soaked raisins bordering on being a bit sherried. These are met with pineapple, banana and some nice spicy oaky notes. Really melding things together nicely. The more “medicinal” notes of petrol and a touch of tobacco smoke take a back seat, slightly. However, they definitely add to the complexity of this rum.

In terms of the finish at 59% ABV it is never likely to be short and it is a nice length and it really does “mellow” out further as you get into the finish. It’s the type of finish you will savour with a a good weight of oak and bourbon spice brought along nicely by the pineapple and banana which comes along side the slightly more “meaty” notes of tobacco and just a small amount of petrol.

I’ve encountered quite a lot of Hampden rum over the past few years. Often from Independent bottlers who are either unaware of the importance of the Marque of Rum used or simply unaware of what it is. I thought I had tried more of the LROK marque than it seems from looking through my reviews I thought I had experienced a Habitation Velier bottling but i

t turned out to be a LROK/HLCF blend.

I’ve probably noted in some of my reviews where I have identified it’s a LROK marque. As its not in the title I’ve struggled to find it through search. My memory (after all this rum) isn’t what it once was!

Not too worry on the basis of this bottling I suspect LROK might be a bit higher on my priorities going forward.

Good luck finding a bottle of this at a reasonable price. I suspect the generous sample I was sent (thanks hugely to the sender) will be my last experience of this particular bottle.

But you never know……….