Hampden Estate 8-Year

This was my first rum from Hampden and it really satisfied my tastebuds. Nice and simple bottle with even better inside. There wasn't very much of the funk, but it is a very distinguished rum. The smell of ripe bananas was indeed present. Taste was really dry yet naturally sweet and smoky. The smoke gives the vibe of high end scotch. Very pleasant drink with long finish. Very smooth for 46% and an excellent choice!

Too strong as for rum , and as for me. Taste disappears with 46°..

The scent is light and subdued. There are no dominant fragrance notes.
Dessert flavor, shallow, mild. There is no sweetness and the finish is short.
However, it is a well-graded rum, although sometimes I have the impression that it is too watered down. Nevertheless, I really like this rum.

Aroma - cinnamon orange peel followed by pineapple and mango

Taste - toasted sugar followed by lemon cake, caramel and an oak finish.

I wasn't sure what the fuss was about when it came to Hampden. I get it. Fantastic Jamaican rum. Has the strong Jamaican funk that you either love or hate, but then there's a bit more complexity than the standard Jamaican bottle like Coruba or Wray & Nephew. Would I pay double to triple the price of those other bottles? Eh. I'm not sure, especially if you're only going to use this in cocktails, but man I would love this as a gift.

Hate the label. The rum smells like a barn at first sniff. Tastes like a barn at every turn and sip. Plenty of burn but no ethanol flavor. This is funky! Based on memory, this is a bit like Smith & Cross (but lower abv). Interesting but a bit challenging.

9:The nose opens with a gigantic fruit salad, drenched in sunshine. The very ripe exotic fruits have not yet passed the fateful stage of fermentation; they are simply gorged with sugar and develop sweet pastry aromas. These include almond powder and amarena cherry, spiced up with walnut liqueur and pine thorns.
Aeration and time bring a lovely golden patina, which adds firmness and liveliness. That's what's needed to contain all this powerful, fragrant fruit. There's also a hint of spice, with cinnamon and vanilla taking us right back to pastry indulgence.
9:The palate is well-balanced, soft, but with enough strength not to get bored. It is very slightly coppery, and hooks the taste buds with greedy notes of caramelized nuts. The fruit is darker than on the nose, with blackcurrant, blueberry and more mellow, candied prunes. The rum is relatively light, with a delicate creaminess.
8,8:The finish is fine and pastry-like, hovering between prunes and almonds.
It becomes even better with few airings. I bought the bottle one year ago. This tasting is so far the Best.

I was hoping for a fruit bomb, but this wasn’t it. All the liveliness seems to have been aged away. Lacks that sweet funky punch in the face. Get Rum Fire from the same distiller for a more lurid experience at 1/3 the price.

It's all right there, on the nose and in the mouth it's immediately apparent this is from Jamaica. Oddly, it burns more on the nose than in the mouth. Such a funky rum, zero sweetness or caramel. It's like a peated whiskey, with huge amounts of smoke through it. But there's a vegetal quality to it, as if you'd passed some ardbeg through a bed of dried herbs. There's a sort of medicinal quality to it but the aftertaste is mainly bitter herbs and smoke. Dry as toast. Balance is the furthest thing from the mind, it's put all it's stats into power and boy can you feel it.

Much as the title suggests, this stuff has a lot in common with it's brother from the same distillery, but in a more refined form. There's still plenty of delicious overripe fruit funk, but it's tempered by a rich caramelly oakiness that is heavily reminiscent of a good bourbon. It's quite smooth and makes a lovely sipper, although I rarely drink rum neat so it's probably a little wasted on me. It does make a great Mai Tai, daiquiri, or *gasp* rum & Coke though! It's a bit too expensive to replace Smith & Cross as my go-to Jamaican (and honestly I wouldn't want to even if it wasn't- S&C is great stuff already, and not everything needs the extra oak), but as an occasional treat it's a wonderful thing. Would highly recommend.