Rum Exchange Jamaica St Catherine 5 Year Old Ruby Port Finish. This is the second of the two Jamaican rums which have recently been release by Austrian Independent bottler The Rum Exchange. As well as an online store, The Rum Exchange also have a Facebook page for all things rum.

I reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed their first Jamaican release from Hampden Estate so I am looking forward to trying this offering. Those of you with a bit of knowledge around where rum distilleries are, will probably have already worked out that this is a rum which hails from the The Worthy Park Estate. A producer which I have been championing for some time now.

Rum Exchange Jamaica St Catherine 5 Year Old Ruby Port Finish was distilled in 2013 and bottled in 2019. Making all the juice in the bottle at least 5 years old. It was aged for four years in ex-bournbon casks in Jamaica. It was then moved to Denmark and aged for a further year in ex-Ruby Port casks. The rum has been bottled at 59% ABV. There are 318 bottles of this available (there was an error numbering the bottles so if you do have a bottle the numbers on the rear label are incorrect). I know this because Andreas Issop who runs The Rum Exchange told me.

A bottle of this rum will set you back around €80 and is available direct from the Rum Exchange store. At present there are still some bottles available but it is selling well. So lets move things along and see how this one tastes…..

In the glass we have golden brown rum with an orange hue. The nose is very big. You can smell this rum the minute you pour it and from quite a distance as well!

It’s very similar to the official Worthy Park finishes such as Oloroso and Marsala that is no surprise as it is bottled and finished by 1423.dk, as they are.

The rum in this blend is big and full of burnt black bananas, coconut, mango and lashings of stewed english breakfast tea. It smells a lot like used tea bags.On top of that the Ruby Port finish adds a lot of complexity to the rum. Big sweet notes of raisin, dark chocolate and rich red wine. It’s sweet and fruity but aggressive at the same time. This is a big powerful rum.

Further nosing reveals some lighter notes – time in the glass mellows this rum slightly. More milky breakfast tea now, some white grapes an a touch of ginger and cinnamon. It’s a complex nose and it s a rum you should spend a lot of time nosing. It’s very good.

Sipped Rum Exchange Jamaica is quite fiery. Lots of ginger and a touch of chilli on the initial sip. The mid palate moves into a mixture of bruised banana, coconut, milky tea and some sweeter noses from the Ruby Port cask. This is isn’t an example of a fantastically well balanced easy to drink rum. This is a darker, more complex kind of rum. The sort you need a few glasses to fully understand what its all about.

The base rum is pretty young, so it does have a bit of “oomph” about it. The finish is long and peppery. Lots of a spice and a real hit of booze. That said, the finish is very long and very enjoyable. The sweet notes from the Port Cask still stick around even on the finish so the peppery spicy oak notes are tempered by a sprinkling of juicy raisins and currants with some rich dark red wine.

This is a rum which will really grow on you. It is also one which you can water down a little, without losing a lot of the flavour. In fact a drop or two of water really helps bring out the fruitier side of this rum.

Well worth trying if you want a bit more Worthy Park in your life! And don’t we all?