Jamaican Rum JHK Thompson Bros. Independent Whisky Bottlers have a long tradition of putting out some rather decent rum over the years. In fact quite a few of the most respected “Independent Bottlers” of rum are primarily Whisky bottlers.
Names such as Silver Seal, Cadenhead’s and Duncan Taylor are well known and well established. However, over the past few years as more Whisky enthusiasts are beginning to discover rum – more and more “Whisky” bottlers are turning to rum.
Jamaican Rum JMH Thompson Bros and Bar Tre. You might be forgiven for thinking I have already reviewed this. I haven’t the rum I reviewed very recently with a very similar title was JMM rather than JMH. The JMM and JMH I am now assuming to mean JaMaica Monymusk and JaMaica Hampden. As this particular single cask bottling hails from the Hampden Estate, Trelawny, Jamaica.
Hampden Estate 2010 VIREO Single #488 TWE Exclusive. I could have titled this particular rum any number of different ways such is the information afforded to us on this particular bottling. However the Search Engine Optimisation likes things a lot shorter than even this title, so I’ll explain more about the bottling in this review.
Velier National Rums of Jamaica Ltd Cambridge ST♥CE 2005. In 2018, Independent bottler Velier released four rums from National Rums of Jamaica, this is the second of those releases that I have reviewed.
This rum was distilled at the legendary Long Pond Distillery. It has been given the Cambridge moniker, in reference to the ester classification used at the now closed Cambridge Distillery. Cambridge ST♥CE refers to rums with a ester level between 550 and 700 gr/hlpa. In the grander scheme of things, this is mid level ester levels but most commercially available Jamaican rums are much lower in esters. This is funky stuff!
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.
Berry Bros & Rudd Hampden 17 Year Old TWB Exclusive Cask #27. The Whisky Barrel (TWB) certainly seem to like their Hampden rums! This is the one of their latest and one of two rums available that were bottled by Berry Bros & Rudd.
This particular bottling is a single cask (cask #27). It was distilled way back in 2000 and bottled in 2018. It is noted as being 17 Years Old. The rum is 100% Pot Still. As the rum is from 2000 then it is believed to be a Diamond H marque (I can’t use the arrow keys on WordPress documents as it goes a bit crazy). So the ester count on this one is fairly “low” 200-400 g/hlaa on the scale. it is bottled at 57.2% ABV. Which will either be Cask Strength or very close to it. When this went to retail only 194 bottles were available. I am unsure of the percentage of Continental (European) and Tropical ageing but I assume the vast majority of this rums life was spent in Europe.
Another Habitation Velier Hampden release. This time out its a three way collaboration which has brought this particular rum into existence. HLCF/LROK is a blend of two Hampden expressions which have both been issued individually HLCF (Hampden Light Continental Flavoured) and LROK (Light Rum Owen Kelly).
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