TCRL Worthy Park Transcontinental Rum Line 2016

This Worthy Park was bottled by Transcontinental Rum Line, the brand built on the old tradition of shipping rum across the Atlantic to finish ageing in Europe. Distilled in 2016 from the WPE marque and bottled young at 2.5 years old, WPE is Worthy Park's higher-ester estate code, so even at a tender age this is a fruit-and-funk forward pot-still Jamaican.

Distilled on the Forsyths still from molasses and matured first in the tropics, then continental-style in cooler Europe, the two-stage ageing keeps it lively rather than heavily oaked. The nose is ester, banana, glue and pineapple; the palate carries tropical fruit, banana, pineapple and burnt sugar with cedar and a touch of smoke, closing spicy with nutmeg, banana and oak. Unsweetened and bottled overproof at 57.18%, it drinks powerful but surprisingly well knit for its years. A logical next bottle for fans of youthful, funky Worthy Park, equally at home neat or in bold cocktails.