Rum Exchange Jamaica Trelawny Rum 5 Year Old Oloroso Finish. Rum Exchange is a Facebook group which (as the name suggests) focuses on bottle swaps and trading samples and bottles of rum. The brains behind the venture is Andreas Isopp a Rum Enthusiast who lives in Dornbirn, Austria.

Rum Exchange Jamaica Trelawny Rum 5 Year Old Olroso Finish is the first release from the fledgling label. Another 5 Year Old Jamaican Rum from Worthy Park has also been released at the same time. From what I understand, the rums bottled under the Rum Exchange label have been sourced from Danish Importers and Distributors 1423.dk.

Jamaica Trelawny means that the rum is from the Hampden Estate. I am unsure why the distillery has not been disclosed. It may be because the other rum released is from Worthy Park, so maybe the brand thought best to focus on the location rather than the distillery. It is quite romantic in some ways.

The rum itself is a Single Cask rum. According to the rear label there are 355 bottles of this liquid available. However, Andreas has advised that this is a bottling error and there were actually only 331 bottles available on release.

The back label along with this incorrect information also informs us that it is a Pure Single Rum. It has spent 3 years in ex-bourbon casks before being transferred to ex-oloroso Sherry casks for a further 2 years. The artwork used on the bottle is by Jamaican artist John Dunkley. It was distilled in 2013 and bottled in May 2019.

The front of the bottle reveals the ABV as Cask Strength of 61.5%. A 70cl bottle of this rum should set you back around €80 you can buy it direct here. Rum Exchange have also set up a distribution company in Austria and have an online store.

Presention wise I like the square stubby stylised bottle. You also get a nice chunky cork stopper as well. The painting used are a very high standard and overall the presentation is very professionally done. Good work for a start up label.

I’ve tried a good few “second maturation” or “finished” Jamaican rums over the past couple of years. As mentioned earlier Worthy Park and 1423.dk have collaborated on them quite a lot. I can’t think though, of any “second maturation” Hampden Estate rum that I have tried, I will likely be embarrassed by this at a later date when someone reveals I’ve reviewed a couple…….

Currently I am unsure what “marque” of rum has been used. I am not familiar with such young Hampdens other than the Habitation Velier LROK and HLCF marques, which were only slightly older at 6 years old.

So I think I am all out of information for now with this review so lets go ahead and see how this tastes.

In the glass this is a very dark Hampden. Not one I have seen much of before even in 35 year old Hampden rum. This must be the ex-oloroso sherry casks at play. At this stage suspicious me thought wet barrels. However, I had no need to be as a Hydrometer Test bobbed nicely at 62% ABV. So no dosage here.

Rum Exchange Jamaica Trelawny Rum 5 Year Old Oloroso Finish has a very strong sherry influence on the nose. It’s full of raisins and plump sultanas, mixed fruit peel and an almost Sticky Toffee Pudding aroma to it.

But unlike monstrosities such as Dos Maderas you still get those wonderful punchy Jamaiacan notes. The Hampden Estate rum is coming out to fight and it will not be silenced. Beneath the sweetness is a wonderful array of fiery spices – ginger, white pepper a touch of cumin. We get that familiar Jamaican burnt banana funk and pineapple juice but it is dialled down a notch by the sherry.

It definitely hasn’t been blunted or homogenised as can happen when too many additives are used – it’s just a different take on a Jamaican rum.

Sipped the relative youth of the distillate begins to show itself. As does it’s Jamaican teeth. As it to be expected the initial sips at full ABV are very spicy. This is a rum which you may find yourself adding a drop or two of water to. It hasn’t had a hugely long maturation and it is continentally aged, so don’t expect a hugely elegant sipping experience at full ABV.

Once your palate has adjusted to the rum you can begin to appreciate it more. The initial burst of intense woody spices, ginger and wafts of acidic pineapple juice, moves nicely into a mid palate which is less intense but every bit as complex. The mid palate has a real mix mash of spices on the tongue but they are carried along by some very nice stoned and dried fruit notes. Red wine and some Marsala like notes as well.

The finish has a slightly savoury heat to it – a kind of smokiness barbecued meat perhaps? It sounds odd but its actually very nice. The finish is very long and spicy but with a lot of sweetness carried along with it. This is not a very woody Hampden probably due to its youth and the time spent in the ex-Oloroso cask.

This is quite a different take on Hampden Estate rum. I would definitely make comparisons between this and the 1423.dk/Worthy Park collaborations. It would simply be stupid not to. If you enjoyed the different tastes and flavours those releases brought to Worthy Park then I would highly recommend trying this rum.

Due in part to its strength and its relative youth this won’t be an every day sipper of the type of rum you have more than say two glasses of. It is in terms of flavour profile for me – a little to intense for that. The odd glass though is really nice and I have thoroughly enjoyed trying this.

If you are a Hampden or Jamaican rum fan looking for something a little different then I would highly recommend trying this rum.