Rum Fire White Overproof

If you know Jamaica you may know the reggae music of Scratch. Earthy, funky, spacey, odd, intense. Full of soul and life. That also describes this beautiful rum. Drink it neat and each sip is an adventure in your month, and a long adventure at that. Loooong finsh. Entertaining.

I thought it would be harsher but it seems to down down easier than Smith and Cross. Very good and unique rum.

And I'm not sure where it lands with me. I love agricoles, unaged maybe more than aged, and I'm not afraid of bold flavors. I don't pretend to have an amazing palate, but this review reveals a part of my palate that has never been activated. And I don't yet know if that's a good thing!

For my tasting, I followed a vague process I found on the Internet:

Step 1 - Sip neat
Step 2 - add water to 50% abc
Step 3 - add ice, let melt

Tasting glass: Some sort of slightly flared/tulip shaped Japanese whiskey glass. I prefer it to my glencairn, which IMO tends to bottleneck flavors of really complex spirits.

Ok, fresh bottle, batch L233, crack it open, here goes!

Nose:
first impressions, smells sweet, a bit fruity, and I instantly recognized Hampden funk

Swirl, second sniff: reminds me of a hot aguardiente with some vegetal, fresh cane scents.

Second swirl, third sniff: realized something else is going on underneath the surface.

Palate:
Neat: sweet, fruity, fresh cane, and lordy that's hot. 63% no doubt. Second sip followed quickly with freshly cut Lexan plastic sheets and a box of bandaids for when you cut your finger on the Lexan. And then you decided to eat some pineapple to console yourself. But the pineapple is underripe and hung out in a very clean doctor's office.

Diluted to 50%: hitting the plastic notes again, with a bit of funk, but mostly if you were to serve funk in a plastic cup. More notes on the bandaid, not the fabric bandaids, but the cheaper, rubbery ones.

Ice cube, fully melted: here is where it got more complex. Still hitting some sort of note that I don't yet like, as well as a bit of anise.

Finish:
Very long, as everyone experiences. And to my taste, the most intriguing part. More pineapple, more funk, and the plastic seems to dissipate.

The nose and the finish were my favorite parts. The palate threw me, way more than any aguardiente or agricole. I suppose it would land similar with clairins, maybe le rocher or more “advanced” unaged rums. I don't mean to say advanced from a point of pretension, but rather with regards to how your rum journey leads you to seek out different flavors.

My rating: N/A.

I ultimately need more time to see where these flavors land. I will revisit Rum Fire but not sure when. I have a bottle of it and have since smelled it a few times over. It's nice, fruity, funky. Maybe it needs some time to oxidize a bit, maybe I'll try it in a 50/50 shot with Cynar. Maybe my flavor journey will take me somewhere else than the involuntary memory of cutting Lexan sheets in 8th grade shop class.

Updated review: after my first experience, I let the bottle sit for a week and I must say, it's much more tolerable than my first go. I had it neat and then mixed with sparkling water, and I'll say it was pleasant, but jam packed with flavor. Some of the undertones are still in some rusty industrial factory, but I'm getting a sense of the same terrior you taste in older Hampden offerings.

Too strong for me can't taste the rum just burnt mouth not for me

Probably one of the more unique funky Jamaican rums I've had, taking it in more of an almost fruity direction compared to a lot of others. Might have to get a bottle of W&N to see how it stacks up in various drink applications.

This has a similar banana funk style to Hampden 8yo, which is one of my favorite rums. Overall its not as good, but at less than 1/2 the price of the 8yo its worth a try if you like banana ester. The higher ABV makes it a bit harsh for sipping neat, but a little water tames that down.

Oh yeah, funky and powerful! Highly aromatic, with quite a bit of agricole character on the nose that gives way to the perhaps more "classic" funk of over-ripe fruit and some spice. Amazingly, for the ABV I was expecting more burn on the nose than you get - it's not all that bad.

Taste is totally different than the smell. I could see how one may be put off, but you have to get past that and have a taste. Dry, funky, fruity, with a distinct vinyl plastic flavor that seems odd at first, but it gives way to some interesting complexity.

Medium-bodied, long finish where the molasses starts to come through. Sippable? Yes, probably not on a regular basis - but to mix it up every once in a while for sure. This won't be a rum for everyone, but everyone should at least try it just so you know what it's like. It's an eye-opener.

I finally got my hands on this after having a number of aged Hampdens. I have loved all of them; even the ones I have spent $200 on and had to ship from the UK (Kill Devil). So worth it.

This is $30 and available locally (purchased in NYC). The nose is massive. Tons of funk, salt, bananas, pineapple, and other fruit. Actually shares a good bit of similarities with the aged ones that I have had (Kill Devil and Great House). Maybe oak is unnecessary?

On the palate, it is full flavored, but very different from the others I have had. The funk is there, but takes a backseat to lemon, licorice, pineapple, and kitchen/bathroom cleaners (think Pledge and Lysol). The flavors are, all together, pleasant, but the cleaner note is aggressive. Long, lemony, bitter and cleaner finish.

This is crazy stuff and definitely would be a love or hate depending on the person (nothing in between). You could probably say that about all Hampdens.

All told, I prefer the Great Houses and Kill Devils, but those are multiple times more expensive than this. Impossible to argue against this for $30.

From a flavor/complexity standpoint, this may be unbeatable in the price range. Price to quality is impressive. Shelf staple and will def try this in cocktails.

Rum: 7/10, extra point for the price point (massive bargain).

Whoa this funky one is hot! This one will do some damage. Some say it’s a sipper but i’m not there yet. I cut it with some Plantation to still get a feel for it without the FI AAA!!

Vůně: ředidlo, silně ovoce(přezrálý ananas, banán, lesní jahody), vanilka
Chuť: ovocná, SLADKÁ, silně hřejivá, lehounce nahořklá
Dochuť: lehká hořkost, technická, ovocná
Příjemný, skvělý, funky klasik.