Famille Ricci Hampden Hampden 1983 (The Nectar Of The Daily Drams)

Famille Ricci bottled this 1983 Hampden through The Nectar Of The Daily Drams, a forty-one-year-old aged in ex-bourbon and held at cask strength 53.5%. Hampden is the Trelawny reference point for high-ester funk, all pot still, and even after four decades in oak this retains the explosive solvent character that defines the house.

Distilled from molasses, it noses on tropical fruit, overripe fruit, ester and glue, a fireworks display of varnish, solvent and very ripe fruit. The palate carries tropical fruit, overripe notes, wood and ester, the finish woody and roasted with more tropical fruit and ester. Despite its great age it stays intensely funky and powerful rather than mellowed into quiet oak, not perfectly round but full of energy. Bottled at cask strength with no added sweetness reported, this is a rare, deeply aged Hampden for funk devotees who want extreme maturity that still hits with full ester force rather than trading character for smoothness.