Famille Ricci Hampden Rare Single Cask JMLR 2016

Hampden runs a full range of ester marques, and JMLR is one of its lower ester recipes, a name for a familiar Hampden mark presented under different livery. This Famille Ricci single cask takes that gentler profile to nine years, where the fruit and pastry notes have room to develop, then bottles it unsweetened at 66.6%.

Distilled from molasses on the double retort pot still and matured in ex-bourbon oak, the lower ester level shows less of the wildest funk and more refined fruit. The aroma is pineapple, ester, intense and buttery, the palate keeps the pineapple and ester with allspice and tropical fruit, and the finish turns nutty and buttery with orange peel. There is overripe pineapple, apple cinnamon, buttery pastry, light wood and a saline edge, all carried with good balance for the strength. A rewarding, well priced single cask for experienced palates who enjoy Hampden at high proof without its most extreme intensity.