Velier’s Magnum Series is one of those projects where a drinks release is, very deliberately, also an art object. It’s a collaboration between Italian independent bottler Velier and renowned photography agency Magnum Photos, and the basic idea is simple. Velier selects the liquids, Magnum brings the images, and the bottles become a kind of portable gallery show you can actually open.

It also makes sense if you know anything about Velier’s owner Luca Gargano, who has long positioned Velier as a bottler that thinks about presentation and culture alongside production, and who is openly interested in art and photography. Independent bottling has also become one of the few corners of the spirits trade where a niche aesthetic can survive at scale: you can do the geeky production transparency and the high-concept packaging in the same breath because the audience craves for both.

To be sure, Magnum is not just “a photography agency” in the modern licensing sense. Magnum Photos was founded in Paris in 1947 as a cooperative formed by leading photographers who wanted control of their own work and livelihoods. Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of the best-known founding figures, and the broader idea was that photographers would be both members and owners, retaining copyright rather than surrendering it to an agency. That ownership model is part of why Magnum’s archive feels so singular, because it reflects photographers choosing what they shoot, how they edit, and how they distribute, instead of working solely to an assignment desk. It is also why “Magnum” has remained a kind of shorthand for authorial photojournalism: images that are not just visually strong, but tied to the photographer’s viewpoint and ethics, even when the subject is conflict, upheaval, or the quieter politics of everyday life. The collective is still owned and run by its members, still protective of authorship, and still widely seen as the most illustrious club in documentary and art photography circles.

Velier first tapped into this with the Magnum Series in 2022 as a four-bottle set: four rums in Velier’s signature squat black bottles, each bottle wearing a different image by a particular Magnum-affiliated photographer. Magnum Series #1 came dressed in labels showcasing unpublished photographs by Elliott Erwitt. Erwitt is widely associated with high-contrast black-and-white work, often built around timing, composition, and a dry, observational wit, but with a kind of tenderness running underneath it. Magnum Series #2 shifted the palette, using photographs by Alex Webb, the American street photographer known for dense colour frames, layered scenes, and images that can feel like multiple stories happening at once.

Now the latest Magnum Series #3 takes that concept and plants it in a specific place: Trelawny Parish, Jamaica, straight into the orbit of Hampden Estate. The photographer this time is Cristina de Middel, a Spanish-Belgian Magnum member, and the premise is direct: she travelled to Hampden, spent a week there, and the resulting set of four photographs anchors the four labels. 

(Photographed by: Cristina de Middel)

Images transport us to the estate through scenery and even Hampden’s fermentation room, with a surrealist and cinematic dimension. Quite fitting as Hampden is already a place that tends to feel slightly unreal even before you add an artist’s lens. After all Hampden is one of the legendary reference points for a certain kind of “high-definition” Jamaican style: intensely aromatic, openly funky, and unapologetic about fermentation-derived character. What photography can do here is to reattach the brand to an actual landscape, actual buildings, actual working processes that manage the heat and keep the system running.

And because this third edition is entirely Hampden, the set also functions as a guided tour through Hampden’s marque system, anchored by ester levels. The youngest bottle in the set is the Hampden 4 Year Old 2021 DOK, and it’s the highest ester expression here, listed at 1,500 to 1,600 g per hectolitre of pure alcohol. Then comes the Hampden 7 Year Old 2018 HGML at 1,000 to 1,100g. Next is Hampden 8 Year Old 2017 at 900 to 1,000 g. Finally, the mildest of the four in ester terms is Hampden 9 Year Old 2016 LROK at 200 to 400 g.

Putting those four marques into a single set is, in effect, a structured argument about Hampden’s range. A lower-ester marque like LROK can still be unmistakably Jamaican, but it often reads as more conventionally “drinkable” to people coming from whisky. As you climb towards DOK territory, the balance shifts closer to a highly aromatic intense spirit with tones verging on the industrial.

While the previous editions were of rums from disparate distilleries, this edition also neatly ties place, process and categorisation together. Four images from a week on site. Four rums from the same distillery. Four steps across a spectrum defined by ester concentration. This edition feels less like a mixed pack and more like a masterclass in itself, the kind of thing you might actually want if you are trying to understand why Hampden tastes like Hampden. De Middel’s photographs of landscapes and still life at Hampden makes for a great pairing.

Rum Review: Hampden 4 Year Old 2021 DOK, Velier Magnum Series #3 Cristina de Middel Edition 

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Light gold.

Nose: A sharp, high-toned industrial solventy lift coming through as thinner alongside a light varnish top note. That aggressive edge is quickly joined by a heavy overripe bananas, and then it starts to feel more rounded and composed as a warm, sticky sweetness builds from confectionary caramel and a baked biscuits. A more savoury depth shows itself as aged balsamic vinegar pulling along dark fruit flesh such as plums. There’s a cool mineral wet-stone note and some newly waxed leather

Palate: Evenly straddles richness and savoury character. Rich caramel is quickly joined by a distinctly savoury teriyaki. A red-fruit brightness cuts through as strawberry syrup and a soft sourness of bruised red apples. There’s this sour-saltiness you get in a daiquiri. By the mid palate you get a dry, lightly dusty papery note of old library books.

Finish: Finishes with a surprisingly clean snap, even though the ester-driven character stays present and aromatic. A brisk tartness lingers, showing as green apple carrying on long enough to keep your mouth watering. Right at the tail end, there’s a faint grassy vegetal freshness.

My Thoughts:

This is by conventional standards an extreme experience, but it isn’t without enjoyment. What I find most striking is how clean the opening feels despite the industrial, solventy register, and how it becomes an integrated picture rather than a jumble of loud parts.

It holds together notes that usually feel hard to reconcile in a single pour: fast, volatile varnish, the savoury teriyaki glaze, the overripe banana, then the sharper tart-fruit side. The balance between savoury and rich is unusually even for something this high-toned, and the daiquiri-like sour-saltiness gives it a clear through-line that keeps the sweetness and funk in check. The finish was very estery yet still lands clean.

Rum Review: Hampden 7 Year Old 2018 HGML, Velier Magnum Series #3 Cristina de Middel Edition 

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Amber.

Nose: Big and tropical. Jackfruit and overripe pineapple land immediately with a volatile, high-toned sheen of nail varnish sitting right at the top over the fruit. Fills out into something sweeter and heavier, carried by brown sugar and a sharper, tart edge of sour plums. There’s also a green, slightly vegetal layer of steamed banana leaf and savoury preserved olives alongside a cool wet-stone mineral thread in the background.

Palate: Comes in fast and very defined. Overripe pineapple and banana at first, then red apples add a firmer, fresher crunch. Mid-palate dries out and turns more savoury-spiced, with dried chilli pepper pushing a warm, gritty edge. A drying grip builds along the sides of the tongue supported by European oak and the spice. Darker savoury thickness follows with a glaze of aged soy sauce.

Finish: Brown sugar lingers and an umami thread continues with aged sweet soy sauce. Some orange peels brightening the last stretch. Dryness keeps building as it goes, with oak tightening before it turns lightly spiced and herbal, with thyme and bay leaf adding a dry, resin-leaning snap.

My Thoughts:

This is very, very expressive. It’s by no means a “smooth” spirit, but it’s very easy to read, because the flavours are so clearly outlined that I tend to pick them out before the overt ester or spice comes through. The nose starts in ripe tropical fruit and brown sugar, then gets pulled into something more structured by the sour plums, the steamed banana-leaf vegetal note, and the preserved-olive savouriness, so it never sits as a simple sweet-fruit profile. On the palate, I like the way it moves from loud fruit into chilli warmth and oak grip, with the aged soy-sauce depth holding the mid-palate together rather than making it taste outright salty.

One thing I do want to point out is that, despite the intensity, it feels genuinely integrated at the bottled ABV when taken neat. When I add water, it doesn’t seem to hold together in the same way, because the flavours start to fork and diverge rather than staying stacked and coherent, so I’d rather just enjoy it by itself.

Rum Review: Hampden 8 Year Old 2017 <>H, Velier Magnum Series #3 Cristina de Middel Edition

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Amber.

Nose: Sweet, savoury and dusty all at once. Goreng pisang (fried banana) with brown sugar right behind it, and a sharp, sour brightness cutting through as sour cherries and plums. Some volatile glue and varnish top notes and then dark tobacco and dried leaves pull the nose into a drier, darker lane. Some light grain gristiness adding that dusty feel and a cool mineral edge of slate at the margins.

Palate: Really reminds me of a baijiu with that fast, high-toned tropical funk, very ethyl caproate: dense overripe pineapple and jackfruits and a preserved tang of Chinese sour plums. A savoury glaze builds through the mid-palate with some sweet soy sauce. Brown sugar thickens the profile and then structured dryness gathers on the back half of the tongue, supported by cedarwood, old sandalwood and pine resin.

Finish: It runs very long, staying fruity and savoury rather. Sour plums linger and keep this mouth-watering, and that’s where the baijiu-like funk keeps echoing. A grippy, resinous oak presence continues to takes up more space with slightly bitter-edged cigar-box cedar and lacquered oak.

My Thoughts:

This feels closest to the familiar “drinkable aged Hampden”. The glue and varnish notes are unmistakable, but they’re balanced by ripe, funky overripe fruit and enough brown-sugar richness that it reads as a complete profile rather than an outright high-ester assault. It also has the most confectionary weight of the four that makes for one that I’d like to return to over and over.

Strangely through, I cannot shake the baijiu association, especially with the way the funky fruit and soy-like savouriness combine, though I wouldn’t expect everyone to land there. I can see this clicking especially for someone who wants darker, drier aged notes without losing that fermented-fruit intensity.

Rum Review: Hampden 9 Year Old 2016 LROK , Velier Magnum Series #3 Cristina de Middel Edition

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Dark amber.

Nose: Rich lychees and ripe bananas with a syrupy sweetness sitting high in the glass. Turns warmer and more caramelised as some caramelised banana comes through, then the sticky toasted weight of brown sugar. Some varnish, light gasoline and a faint aviation-fuel edge sitting on the surface, and a clean, leafy-green flicker. Coconut palm sugar starts to show as it opens, and the fruit range widens into red fruits, custard apple and jackfruit..

Palate: It feels cleaner and more approachable than its siblings. Brown sugar lands first and then chewy dried lychees and longans. Gentle warmth builds through the mid-palate from baking spices and then a small savoury-dark undertone of tobacco.

Finish: Trails long, with sweetness persisting but shifting into a slightly more savoury register. Brown sugar and soy sauce lingers in the background and gives the tail end a glaze-like savouriness. Cloves sit around the edges with a dry spice prickle and fruit turns drier and more subdued. Soft sweetness of custard apple rounding out the last notes.

My Thoughts:

This is certainly the most approachable of the quartet. The nose is straightforwardly brown-sugar-rich and fruit-forward, and the industrial signatures sit more like a garnish than the main structure.

Structurally, it feels mellow and readable, with less of that sharp solventy punch that can make very high-ester Hampdens feel like they’re constantly trying to break out of the glass. It still carries the markers you’d expect from the distillery, especially that solventy savouriness in the background, but it’s a bottle I’d happy recommend for someone who doesn’t usually go for Jamaican funk bombs, or as an entry point for someone new to the style who wants the signatures without full-volume intensity.

@CharsiuCharlie