Hampden Estate 2016 The Younger LROK Rum - 47% 70cl

This LROK (Light Rum Owen Kelly) cask marked release was a 2021.

Titled The Younger, this was launched shortly after a similar rum with a 2010 vintage became a new addition to the distillery's core output.

Made from the LROK (Light Rum Owen Kelly) mark with a high concentration of esters, the expression combines the aromatic intensity of the tropical ageing with the freshness of a young fruity rum. 

The Hampden Estate was founded in 1753 by a Scotsman called Archibald Sterling, in the Queen of Spain valley of Jamaica’s Trelawny parish.

For 250 years it remained family owned, selling rum to third-party blenders and independent bottlers. Mismanagement however meant that by 2003 it was in financial trouble, with the Jamaican government stepping in to assume ownership and some of its debt in order to preserve the jobs of its employees.

They sold it in 2009 to the Hussey family’s Everglades Farms, who as first point of business began laying down the casks that would eventually become the first Hampden Estate labelled official bottling of the distillery’s rum, launched in collaboration with Velier in 2018.

Famed for its heavy, ester-driven style, Hampden is joined by Worthy Park as the only two Jamaican distilleries that produce exclusively pure single rums (using only pot stills).

It currently has four pot stills: two from Forsyths in Scotland, one from Vendome in Kentucky, and another from T&T Engineering in South Africa.

Notes of fresh pineapple juice, polished oak and ripe tropical fruit sing loud and clear with spiced pepper, zesty orange, clove and sugar cane lingering delightfully on the palate.