2005 Undisclosed Jamaica 17 Year Old "Golden Devil" K&L Exclusive Single Barrel Jamaican Rum (700ml)

There may be some controversy around this batch of rum, namely that our bottler cannot divulge anything about the source or character of the rum. Since there's almost NO rum that was produced at Hampden during this period, it's very difficult to get an idea of the style that was made there during the short transitional period. Some feel this tastes a lot like Worthy Park, but I simply can't understand why they would not be able to sell it with the blender's marque. That makes no sense. Even when the distillery name wasn't included in the sale the blenders marque would have certainly been. Then there's of course the flavor, which exhibits some of the telltale signs of the tropically aged ester driven rum, which is what we are after anyway. So, wherever it's from, it's really special stuff. Let's have a taste. The color is a shimmering auburn (1.5). A sign of a nice long tropical aging before being sent to Europe. Super integrated and complex, but without the hardcore kippers and aggressive industrial character of the c<>h continental aged stuff we've been getting. Instead, we're getting deep, rich roasted fruit aromas — tropical and citrus — paired with dense exotic wood, toasted spice (cinnamon and black pepper), cinchona bark, the finest Italian espresso beans, rich leather, sweet oak, toasted vanilla and behind all that an ancient machine shop with some pipe tobacco soot strewn about an old wooden desk. With air it just keeps building and building. On the palate, it's hugely spicy with dense dried raisin syrup, roasted pineapple, licorice stick, camphor, dried mint and caramel candies. It's absolutely enormous and long with this exquisite tension between the deep roasted fruit, the savory wood and the powerful spice. It really delivers on the tropical aged medium ester promise. An absolutely exceptional rum, the source of which honestly doesn't matter at all. IF anyone can recreate it again, they'll be lucky.