2001 Jamaica's Top Pots (Hampden) 19 Year Old "Golden Devil" Single Barrel Jamaican Rum

2001 Jamaica's Top Pots (Hampden) 19 Year Old "Golden Devil" Single Barrel Jamaican Rum (750ml)

This incredible cask from the distillery in Trelawny parish can no longer bear its famous name, but that doesn't change the stupendous quality of this unbelievable spirit. One of the most traditional distillers in the world, they've not changed much here in the last several hundred years. The distillery features a number of different levels of rum called "marques", distinguished by their ester levels. Now that the distillery has sought to establish its own brand in the international market, bottlers are prohibited from using the name on the label. We're happy to oblige! This is was sold under the mark "JMH," a blending marque that's well known in rum geekdom. This should correspond with the distillery's own <>H level and likely registers ester levels between 900-1000 gr/hL AA. But the esters are only half the story. This measurement of ethyl acetate does no justice to the outrageous array of complex flavor compounds found in this rum. The details of production are a secret that the distiller alone fully understands. Only a fraction of the fermented wort comes from molasses, while the rest is a mixture of dunder, muck, cane vinegar, and cane syrup. Add long slow fermentations, old-school pot distillation, and nearly two decades in cold, damp U.K. cellars, and you've got one of the world's most complex and delicious products. Bottled at cask strength of 59.3% abv, it is sold exclusively at K&L Wine Merchants.