Hampden Estate Great House Distillery 2020 Edition

taste - 10/10
smell - 10/10
sweetness - 7.5/10
price/value rating - 8.5/10

This rum is the epitome of hampden and jamaican rum. Incredibly oily, complex, rubbery, and funky, with the barrel rounding everything out to blend together.

This Hampden Great House 2020 is my 200th review on this website and obviously a great choice. Wow, my favourite rums so far are all from Barbados with FS distillery rums claiming top spots. Received a sample of this Jamaican rum and I was blown away, not like FS rums at all but totally as good. It was like combining a FS rum with the funkiness of Jamaican rum. At 59% this rum packs a punch but it is still thoroughly enjoyable to enjoy neat. I must now expend my collection to include Hampden products. Definitely a “10” in my opinion.

I love this bottle. This is not the first hampden that I have tasted, but this is far better than any other

Lucky enough to find this one on discount at a local liquor store and had to pick up a bottle. Sipped neat.

The nose is quite potent and burns a little bit. Contains hints of fruit and some sweetness. Very funky. Excellent nose overall.

Taste is what I've come to expect from a Hampden distilled rum. Initial sip is sweet. before quickly giving away to some bitterness. There's a bit of overripe banana in there, but very faint. Finish has that "petroleum distillate" character I've come to appreciate in other Hampden products. Pretty smooth, even at nearly 120 proof.

This is a great rum. So what's standing between this one and the "elites" that I've tasted? There's a pervasive bitterness present from start to finish that kind of overshadows the other flavors. It doesn't ruin the product completely (it's still a great rum), but does put it a step behind others I have in my collection. A tad disappointing, considering the expectations I had going in.

Edit: After enjoying this rum straight on a few more occasions, tasting it blind next to some peers (such as the 2021 vintage), and mixing it in a few cocktails, I've come to realize that this is the perfect rum. It's the best I've ever had the pleasure of having in stock & it even edges out it's sibling, 2021 GH. Fantastic and I cannot recommend this one enough!

Stewed pineapples, fermented and overripe fruit, wet wood, huge vegetal notes, vanilla syrup, the “hairs” of a mango seed when you suck on it. What an experience. My favorite rum yet.

I have tasted bottlings 2019 and 2020 and I loved both, but i think that 2020 is very special.

Hampden notes are clearly noticeable.
Pineapples, Mangoes, honey, cinnamon, maple syrup.
Exceptional bottle

Takto si predstavujem dokonalý jamajsky rum. Absolútne úžasné. Človek má už po naliati pocit, že celá izba sa ocitá na Jamajske. Úžasná vôňa, ovocno-esterova. V chuti nálož citrusov v Tom najlepšom mixe, záver veľmi dlhý. Človek má dlho na jazyku zmes esterov a exotického ovocia. Skvelé a ešte raz skvelé. Bavil má ešte viac ako ročník 2019.

Tasted neat in a glencairn
Nose: immediately recognizable Hampden notes of tar, rotting fruit, cola, maybe even bring olives, but always with a sweetness
Mouth: an oily feel with the fruits up front - mangoes, bananas - then burnt sugar, brine, tar even notes of cherry cola and licorice. Wild ride!
Finish: long. Next morning even.
This is something special from the nose to finish. Incredible pot still Jamaican!

Nose: Cherries, Raspberries, Bananas, Honey, Coconuts, Caramel, Apricots, Cola, Maple Syrup, Violets, Pineapples, Mangoes, Vanilla, Cotton Candy

Palate: Cherry Cola, Bananas, Honey, Maple Syrup, Dark Chocolate, Prunes, Figs, Molasses, Root Beer

Finish: Cherry Cola, Raspberries, Strawberries