Silver Seal Hampden H 1993

Italy's Silver Seal, a Modena house respected for collector grade single casks, bottled this 1993 Hampden at a measured 50%. It is a single cask and unsweetened, but the gentler strength makes it an everyday Hampden rather than a cask strength monster, a fine entry into aged Trelawny funk for drinkers who find the highest proofs too much.

Distilled on double retort pot stills from molasses and matured twenty years in ex-bourbon oak, it offers the house esters in balanced form, pineapple, tropical fruit and banana lifted by marzipan and a hint of solvent. The finish turns to dark chocolate, roasted almond and oak. The reduction trims a little length, but the trade is accessibility, a well integrated, characterful Hampden that drinks easily while still announcing exactly where it came from.