Kill Devil Jamaica Hampden Distillery Aged 10 Years. Another collaboration between Hunter Laing’s Kill Devil Rum Range and online Whisky retailer The Whisky Barrel. Once again they have teamed up to bottle another Jamaican Pot Still rum from the Hampden distillery.

Those familiar with Kill Devil rums will be aware that those that have the reddish/purple lozenge on the bottle are Cask Strength. (The grey lozenge indicates diluted to 46% ABV)

It makes sense that a rum exclusive to a Whisky Retailer is bottled at such a strength. Whisky Collectors are very familiar with Cask Strength offferings and often turn their nose up at “diluted” offerings. Especially anything below 46%.

Kill Devil Jamaica Hampden Distillery Aged 10 Years retails at a very exact £75.61. It has been bottled at 62.5% ABV. 270 bottles have been produced form one single cask. A sister cask to the other 10-year-old release earlier this year.  It was distilled  back in 2007. Unfortunately, I am unsure what “marques” of rum were produced at Hampden that year. This is a 100% Pot Still rum which has been partly (mostly) aged in Europe. It was distilled in November 2007.

Rums from Hampden Distillery are becoming increasingly popular. Clearly The Whisky Barrel are doing very well bottling these rums as they have another 16 Year Old cask available. A review of that release will follow very soon.

I have really enjoyed The Whisky Barrel exclusives and I am in good company because Serge of WhiskyFun has also enjoyed them as has Steven James from Rum Diaries Blog. I would recommend visiting both those sites as they are very knowledgeable when it comes to rum.

In the glass the 10-year-old rum is a light golden brown. A shade more than straw but still quite light.

The nose is a lot of things but “light” is not one. Like the 9 and 10 year olds previously bottled for the Whisky Barrel this is a very pungent, fruity and powerul Jamaican Pot Still Rum. Anyone thinking Plantation’s recent Xaymaca release is “funky Pot Still Jamaican Rum” really needs to try something like this – I am sure they will re-assess what “funk” really is.

You can smell this at twenty paces. Huge wafts of ripe juicy Pineapple, Banana and even some Passion Fruit notes. A little bit of Tropical Crush style pop. Some notes of overbrewed English breakfast tea lineup alongside some toast and melting butter.

This is followed by string almost tannic red wine like notes. lighter fuel and some hints of tobacco.

It’s a fantastic full-bodied nose and one which I could delve into for hours.

If I didn’t know how tasty the liquid was………

Sipped this is quite a high ester rum – it’s very dry on the palate for the first sip or two. There is quite a lot of oak and spicy bourbon like notes. Ginger, cinnamon and some fennel. Further sips reveal more of the fruitiness that was on the nose. You get plenty of the Pineapple and banana notes on the sip which fade out into the mid palate leaving you with more of the oak aged notes and the spiciness. There is a heavy top note like petrol which, whilst it may sound unpleasant is something I enjoy a lot.

The mid palate and the finish are quite smoky – almost a touch of peat. Plenty of Pipe smoke and tobacco as well. It’s not the longest finish though. Much like the Velier Hamdpen Diamond this is perhaps a touch on the dry side and does leave the finish feeling a little short.

At 62.5% ABV it is perhaps a little bit too much for my palate. Certainly a few drops of water to bring it down to around 50-55% ABV certainly helps with this rum. It definitely opens it up and makes it a much more forgiving sipper. The fruity flavour has more time to develop – you get some white grape and a touch of gooseberry to compliment the Pineapple and Banana.

The spiciness and the dry finish tone down giving a more flavourful experience overall on the palate. The finish is now less intense but longer – I do wonder if at 62.5% ABV my palate shut down a little due to the intensity.

If you want the full experience of this rum then dial it down a touch with some water. It really does open it up.

Also if you want to be a complete heathen this makes an absolutely belting Rum and Coke. You need very little for flavour so you can use a less pungent rum to add to the booze level.

This is another excellent bottling of Hampden rum, it is perhaps when reviewing rums like this that I need a more precise scoring system. I suspect I may sound overly critical at times.

I’d give this 94.5 out of 100 (with any luck The Whisky Barrel might include my scores in future press releases rather just Serge’s)……or