Rest & Be Thankful Clarendon MMW 1998

Bottled by Rest & Be Thankful, this is a 23 year old single cask Clarendon distilled in 1998 from the MMW marque. Clarendon is a workhorse Jamaican estate, and this release leans toward the drier, more austere Versailles and Monymusk style rather than overt fruity funk.

The long ageing in ex-bourbon has built real depth, with peaches, melon and tropical fruit threaded through roasted nuts, marzipan, pencil shavings and dry oak spice. At 62 percent the spirit is concentrated, with a glue and ester note keeping it firmly Jamaican beneath the wood, and a caramelised, woody finish. Certified unsweetened, it is a mature, complex Clarendon that drinks with a continental restraint, rewarding patient sipping from drinkers who like their Jamaicans more woody than wild.