CoR Hampden No. 6 HLCF 1998

CoR Hampden No. 6 is a single cask from The Colours of Rum, the Warsaw bottler known for top-tier purist single casks at cask strength with no additives. Distilled at Hampden in 1998 and bottled at twenty-three years old, this HLCF marque is a high-ester Hampden profile, here aged the long, slow continental way in Europe rather than under tropical heat.

Distilled on the double-retort pot stills from molasses and matured in ex-bourbon oak in the cooler European climate, its twenty-three years build wood and depth without the rapid extraction of the tropics. The nose is tropical fruit, ester and funk over pineapple; the palate runs fruity and funky with varnish, then dries out into woody, salty, tannic oak. Unsweetened and bottled at 61.9%, the alcohol can feel a touch rough, so it rewards slow sipping and comparison against other 1998 Hampdens rather than a casual daily pour. A serious, dry continental Jamaican for funk-seasoned palates.