Hampden Estate - Fire Velvet Overproof | Jamaican Rum

This Rum Fire is produced by the Jamaican distillery Hampden.

Thanks to the natural yeasts used for fermentation and the copper pot still distillation, this white molasses rum is particularly aromatic.

On the nose, one immediately feels the great potential of this rum. The fruity heaviness, typical of the Trelawny distillery, is not necessarily what we remember at first. It is rather a vegetal, richly flowery register, and it seems surprisingly closer to fresh cane than to molasses.

The aeration rids us of the lightest and most flowery notes, so the rum concentrates on its heavier side. The register of earth and fermentation takes us towards truffles, fatty charcuterie, smoke, copper and resin. With such power, we can tell that the potential for cocktails is enormous.

The palate is round but powerful, and we find everything we like: overripe exotic fruit, resin, candied vegetables, equally candied fruit... The rum then concentrates on a very tasty cherry stone, filled with marzipan, we did not expect so much pastry delicacy. We sometimes lean towards black plum, mirabelle plum, then we return to sultana and prune, always in the middle of a pastry.

The finish is long, and the rum is quite clean despite the profusion of aromas, each more tropical than the next.