Velier Long Pond Cambridge STC❤️E 2005

This is a single marque Jamaican from Long Pond in Trelawny, the historic Wedderburn house behind some of the island's most polarising high ester rum, here bottled by Velier under Luca Gargano. The Cambridge marque sits well up the ester scale, so expect the assertive, fruity, solvent edged character that traders long called hogo rather than a soft, rounded pour.

Long Pond works in the old way, long fermentation and double retort pot stills, and the esters that result read as nail polish, varnish and ripe tropical fruit with a marzipan twist. Eighteen years of Caribbean ageing in ex-bourbon wood has folded oak spice, vanilla and a salty, woody depth around that funk, accelerated by the tropical climate and its heavy angel's share. Bottled unsweetened at cask strength, it stays dense and intense, a rum for drinkers who already know they love the genre.