Hampden Estate Great House Distillery 2020 Edition

Part of my sample introduction to higher price rums. Liking the 8YO, and reading the glowing reviews, I had to try this before taking a £100 punt on the 2021 edition.

The nose is different to other Hampdens I've tried. Very restrained funk. Volatile aromatics, blended really nicely. Difficult to describe.

After all that though, the taste is a bit muted for me. There's a fair bit of burn, and what flavour there is is balanced, but the burn is what I notice most. Finally, in the finish the funk comes up, and it carries on with considerable length. Not much to describe flavour wise.

Overall, I struggle to get excited by this. It's much classier than Smith & Cross, but also not that different either. I'd rather drink this, but at 3 times the price.... Hmm. At least with S&C, I'm happy to use it as a mixer, and occasionally drink it neat!

Amazing smell, and very flavorful. With notes of pineapples, liqourice, vanilla and mango

Compared to a plantation, I would only use this for novacaine before a tooth removal surgery. It blows my mind this is $110 - you can get a much better run for less.

I was shocked at how harsh this rum was at $110 price point. I thought it was roughly equivalent to Kirkland brand.

Květinové a medové vůně, které se projeví následně i v chuti. Jako bych jedl čerstvé pečivo. Je to ale skvělý zážitek.

Thank You so much Rhum Attitude for providing a proper rum tasting during the 16th month of global lockdown. Tasting continued onwards with Hampden Estate Great House Distillery 2020. Very nice bottle and label design. Light golden color. Strong Esther's, plenty of ripe bananas mixed with just about the right amount of funkiness. Absolutely spectacular funk journey.

Adorable GH absolutely fits for purpose from my point of view, harmonic wooden tail with taste of jamaica, it makes me with outstanding fruit balance 😎

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

What an incredible addition to the collection. Everything I was hoping it would be.

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