Worthy Park Special Cask Series (Cognac Finish) 2011

This Special Cask Series release comes straight from Worthy Park, the single-estate St. Catherine distillery whose pot still rums are prized for clean, precise fruit rather than extreme funk. Distilled from molasses on pot still and aged eleven years, it carries a cognac cask finish that adds a vinous, grapey richness to the house character.

At 55% it noses on vanilla, oak, citrus and banana, then delivers dark chocolate, oak, banana and vanilla on a balanced, gently sweet palate, the finish turning woody and faintly smoky with banana and a cherry note. The cognac influence brings overripe fruit, coconut and milk chocolate without burying the Worthy Park signature. Unsweetened and bottled at a comfortable strength, this is a polished, typical Worthy Park, rich and fruit driven, that shows what the distillery does well when paired with a careful wine-cask finish.