Habitation Velier Hampden Single Cask Berlin Bar Convent OWH 2011

OWH is Hampden's lightest mark, clean and low-ester, the opposite pole from DOK, and this Habitation Velier bottling pairs it with full-proof intensity. Part of Velier's Pure Single Rum line of pot-still, single-distillery releases, it was selected for the Berlin Bar Convent and drawn from a single cask at 8 years.

Unusually it was matured in virgin oak rather than ex-bourbon, and that fresh wood shapes the whole rum: citrus and light tropical fruit on the nose give way to a dry, spicy, woody palate, with herbs and polish over assertive new oak. The funk stays restrained, as the mark dictates, and the finish turns honeyed, mineral and faintly metallic. Unsweetened and bottled at 59.5%, it is a serious, drier single cask that sips well neat or with a splash, best understood as Hampden's clean side rather than its ester-driven one.