Watt Rum Hampden Jamaican Rum MJH3 2012

Watt Rum, a German independent, selected this single cask Hampden distilled in 2012 and aged ten years. Hampden is the reference point for Jamaican high-ester funk, a 100% pot still house in Trelawny, and the MJH3 mark places this in the genuinely funky part of its range, with the rotten-fruit-jack character that defines the distillery, bottled at cask strength 56.5%.

Matured in ex-bourbon wood with no added sugar, it opens on tropical fruit, pineapple, an overripe note and wood, the palate turns to banana, mango, barrel and ester, and the finish stays tropical and fermented with pineapple and ester. The aroma is rich with Victoria pineapple and sweet ripe mango plus the slightly rotten fruit funk and light solvent that mark out Hampden, a spread of fruit and spice that evokes an Indian Ocean spice market. Ten tropical years have built toasty oak around that funk without taming it. This is a properly characterful Hampden for drinkers who want the distillery's signature overripe-fruit intensity at full proof.