Hampden Goes 'Fresh' By Going Back To Unaged Rum Roots With New Jamaican White Blend

Before Hampden became the cult hit that it is today with its distinctively funky yet deep rums, these days pushing ever further the ageing barrier, the Jamaican distillery was of course better known for its unaged rums. 

Now it wasn't until 2010 that Hampden had begun to age its rums when the distillery had come into the ownership of the Hussey family, who with the advise of rum legend Luca Gargano of Italian bottling fame Velier started to tropically mature its otherwise unaged rums. Up till that point, the distillery was more focused on selling bulk rums for a variety of purposes and had yet to carve out a brand for itself. By 2018, the first aged rums from Hampden was ready and would take off almost immediately. Since then, the distillery has only kept one unaged expression in its lineup, the classic Rum Fire which has become a bartender's favourite secret sauce for turning their cocktails up a notch.

With then the debut of the Hampden Fresh, it appears that Hampden is going back to its roots in unaged rums to produce an expression that might be more catered to rum sippers, with here a blend of four of Hampden's 8 marks, bottled at a very approachable 42% ABV.

From La Maison du Whisky:

Distilled in a double-retort pot still from molasses whose fermentation relies on the alchemy of dunder, cane vinegar, and muck, Hampden Fresh is the result of a unique expertise. Blending four of the iconic Jamaican distillery’s eight marks, this white rum is distinguished by a precise reduction to 42% ABV, offering a more accessible alternative to the island’s traditional overproof white rums, historically bottled at 63%. True to the distillery’s identity, its aroma and flavour palette opens with fruity and lemony notes, accompanied by hints of honey and liquorice. It then gradually builds in intensity, revealing with great energy phenolic, medicinal, and oxidative registers of remarkable nobility of expression.

Official Tasting Notes

Colour: Colourless.

Aroma: Full, deep. Particularly fruity, the initial nose evokes a raspberry eau-de-vie or a kirsch. With aeration, scents of cane sugar and geranium honey lend great smoothness to a perfectly balanced aroma palette. Over time, fragrances of Tiger Balm and cloves add an invigorating medicinal touch.

Taste: Rich, dynamic. Slender, the flavour palette is driven by tangy flavours of grapefruit and lime. Finely licorice-tinged, it then adopts phenolic and oxidative (macerated fruit) Hampdenesque accents. Possessing great chew, the end of the palate deliciously echoes the fibrous character of fully matured sugar canes.

Finish: Dense, assertive. Slender, it highlights all the complexity and purity of expression of the four distillates that birthed this aptly named blend: Fresh. Heady (carnation, geranium, cane flower), spicy (candied ginger, star anise), liqueur-like (lavender honey), and slightly lemony, the aftertaste lingers on remarkably realistic notes of lychee, almond, and rose petal.

The new Hampden Fresh will be bottled at 42% ABV, with 9,000 bottles to be released.

Kanpai!

88 Bamboo Editorial Team