Kill Devil Jamaica Hampden Distillery Aged 17 Years The Whisky Barrel Exclusive. The folks over at Hunter Laing, who operate the Kill Devil rum brand certainly seem to have obtained a lot of rum from Hampden Distillery. The Whisky Barrel, an online retailer also seem to quite like Hampden rum, so are working with Kill Devil to help distribute these funky bottles of rum.

Todays rum is a 17 Year Old Rum which was distilled way back in November 2001. Until recently Hampden only released one marque of rum to brokers each year. We know that the 2001 releases were all the Diamond H marque. Please note due to the madness of WordPress/the theme I use I can’t put the arrow marks that denote the Diamond you may see elsewhere. I do know how it should be presented but if I use the arrows it goes all a bit strange when I publish!

The Diamond H marque is pretty much the middle of the range in terms of funky rums from Hampden between 900-1000 esters in g/hlaa. Bear in mind though some of the “higher” ester Hampden rums aren’t really produced for drinking “as is” and are used in blends, in food flavourings and are even used by the perfume industry.

Kill Devil Jamaica Hampden Distillery Aged 17 Years is a Single Cask bottling. It has an ABV of 58.8% and is noted as Cask Strength. There are 288 bottles of this rum available exclusively from The Whisky Barrel. It is priced at £93.16 (??) which despite being a rather strange amount of pence. It is pretty good value for a 17 Year Old Hampden rum.

Perhaps the most “famous” Diamond H release so far was the Velier 70th Anniversary. So it will be interesting to see how this one matches up. That rum was considerably younger but it did benefit from 100% Tropical Ageing. This rum has been Continentally Aged. So it will be a little different. Note different not necessarily better or worse.

The first difference is the colour of the rum. This is a very light rum for a 17 Year old. A straw colour. Many people with little knowledge of spirits would immediately be suspicious of claims stating this has been aged for 17 years. There has been no fancy finishing with this rum. It has been aged entirely in ex-bourbon casks in sunny Liverpool.

The nose is full of pineapple juice and bruised banana. Notes of green apple, ginger and a touch of cinnamon. The “funk” is very much there but this is a very fruity and more balanced Hampden than some of the higher ester marques. I would say Diamond H is much more balanced overall than those rums.

The ageing also gives a nice woody note to the rum, which adds an extra layer of complexity and further notes of vanilla and some very light smoke. Nose wise this is quite an approachable Hampden.

Sipped at full strength it is has a sweet entry – again pineapple and green apple, the banana is a bit more creamy – say like a banana porridge. (You can tell I have a baby in the house)

There is a touch of astringency, which gives a little chilli heat and some white pepper along with some lime juice and lemon peel. This moves you into the woody mid palate. This gives a lot of ginger and vanilla, alongside the oak.

This is very sippable even at Cask Strength. No real need for dilution. It’s not quite as acidic as some Hampden’s can be. The time in the wood has clearly calmed this aspect down and given it a really nice balance.

This is a fruity and, by Hampden standards quite an easy rum to drink. It has a really nice balance to it. I would have possibly thought, it was a much lower ester marque as it drinks more like the Habitation Velier HLCF. Which is no bad thing really.

The only real disappointment with this rum is the finish. It’s not a bad finish but it does seem a little on the short side. This may however just be in comparison to the flavour burst you get on each sip. A little water does help give the finish a bit more clarity. Your palate isn’t hit quite as hard with the initial burst of flavour on the sip.

There is a lot of choice when it comes to Hampden rum at the moment (even on The Whisky Barrel’s own site). This rum more than holds its own should you wish to try something from the Diamond H marque.