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.

A single cask Hampden 16 year old (#32) distilled in 2000 and bottled in 2017 by Silver Seal. Silver Seal was founded in 2000 by Ernesto Mainardi—also the founder of Sestante—and bought in 2010 by Massimo Righi, the owner of Whisky Antique. A limited edition of 229 bottles.