Rum, Jamaica. Distillery operational. Owner: Everglades Farms Ltd.

Independent & family-ownedKnown primarily in the rum, perfume and food industries, Hampden began to move out of the shadows in 2009 when the Jamaican government decided to disinvest from the national Jamaica Sugar Company and auctioned off its assets. The family-owned company Everglades Farms Ltd (owned by the Hussey family) secured the lot and became the owner of this gem which is now considered the alter ego of the Scottish distillery Ardbeg. This link with Scotland is no coincidence. Hampden Estate was bought in 1748 by Robert Stirling, who had left Perthshire (Scotland) in 1742. The Hussey family sells two expressions of its rum, including an Overproof which is particularly well-known in the bar and HORECA segment. But it was in 2017, when family-owned Italian (Velier) and French (LMDW) companies began distributing the first old rums, that Hampden really took off, rising to the ranks of the finest rums currently on the market.

This rum is a real globe-trotter. Distilled in Jamaica from sugar cane grown on site, it was then matured in American bourbon casks, before taking off for Scotland, where it continued to matured in French oak casks from the Bordeaux grand cru classé Château Latour. Distilled in 1992, the intensely fruity aromas typical of Hampden have been sculpted by 15 years of ageing in Jamaica’’s tropical climate, which is known to speed up maturation. With only 1,060 bottles released in 2007, it is now very rare.
With an almost pink colour, this rum reveals intense aromas of papaya and clementine, peppered with a herbaceous touch. On the palate, fruity notes develop into hints of leather and an almost vinous character. The long finish ends of notes of forest fruits and wild herbs.