Rest & Be Thankful Clarendon MMW 1998

This Clarendon from Rest & Be Thankful is a single cask of pot-still spirit, marque MMW, from the central Jamaican distillery whose pot marks can run distinctly characterful. Twenty-four years in ex-bourbon oak have taken it somewhere unusual for a Jamaican of this strength, into delicate, almost tea-like territory.

The nose is fresh and citrussy with woody, fruity depth, and the palate is where it surprises, offering tea, flowery notes and an oily, mouth-coating texture rather than overt funk. The finish brings banana and honey alongside that oiliness, a soft and fruity close. Bottled at cask strength, 59.1%, and without added sugar, it carries its proof well, the long maturation having traded ester intensity for nuance and texture. A refined, slightly idiosyncratic old Clarendon for drinkers who enjoy seeing what extended tropical ageing does to the Jamaican profile.