Pure Single Rum, Jamaica
The first bottling of Hampden bearing the exclusive mark HES, or 9th mark, with an ester content of 253 g/hL alc., this three year old bottling reveals an incredibly mature expression. A very typical Hampden, its aroma and flavour palette is composed of sunny and shaded sequences that release a bright light of half-shades. Abundantly fruity, floral and refreshingly herbaceous, it boasts a unity of tone that is not without a few medicinal and musky twitches.
TASTING NOTES
Colour : Bright gold.
Nose : Full, refined. On the first nose, particularly eloquent notes of plantain banana take centre stage. Allowed to breathe, cane sugar, new exotic fruits (pineapple, yellow kiwi) and heady fragrances (vetiver, lily) gradually flood the impressively elegant and fresh aroma palette. Increasingly peppery (pepper, star anise) and hot, the nose is also gently chocolatey.
Palate : Distinguished, fleshy. The deliciously syrupy attack (cane sugar) happily allows the expression of fresh fruits (greengage plum, Mirabelle plum, pear). The vanilla mid-palate (pod) is more herbaceous (cut hay) and spicy (cinnamon, musk). At the end of the palate, citrus fruits (lemon, grapefruit) and infused aromatic plants (sage, verbena) refresh the palate. Like biting into a juicy pear.
Finish : Long, rich. At the start of the finish, warm cane sugar literally runs across the palate, followed by extremely creamy vanilla flavours. The retro-nasal olfaction wavers between green sugar cane, exotic fruits (banana, pineapple) and flavours of geranium honey. The empty glass is characterised by notes of pear and artichoke heart that pair together wonderfully.