Habitation Velier Hampden 2016 OWH
This lower-ester Hampden is an tasty installment in the Habitation Velier series. While it’s tame by Hampden standards there’s still plenty of fruity-spicy flavor from nose to finish.
Bare Zero Proof Rum Blanco
This non-alcoholic rum from Bare Zero brings an interesting funkiness to the NA light rum format, but is more successful as a mixer than a spirit to sip neat.
Caleño Light and Zesty
Light and Zesty is a non-alcoholic rum-inspired spirit with a fresh, fruity nose and palate and a light finish.
Caleño Dark and Spicy
Dark & Spicy is a rum-inspired non-alcoholic spirit from Caleño that’s tasty, but fails to live up to its name.
Philters Ruhm
This non-alcoholic rum from Philters has a spice-forward profile and works both served neat and mixed.
Ronsin
The non-alcoholic rum from Espadafor is an absolute acid bomb.
Arkay Dark Rum
This non-alcoholic rum from Arkay is full of fire but lacking in flavor.
Clean Co Clean R Spiced Rum Alternative
This non-alcoholic rum from Clean Co avoids the worst of the common NA pitfalls, but fails to stand out or taste particularly like rum.
Ish Caribbean Spiced Spirit
This non-alcoholic rum from Ish utilizes a novel dealcoholization method, and is itself quite novel. While it’s a bit challenging as a neat sipper, it shows up nicely in cocktails and captures a funkiness elusive to most NA rums.
Seir Hill Biscane Rum-Inspired Non-Alcoholic Spirit
This non-alcoholic rum from Seir Hill let us down, and while it didn’t taste great, it avoided some of the worst failures of zero proof.
Bare Zero Proof Caribbean Gold Spiced Rum
This non-alcoholic rum from Bare Zero has a banana-forward profile that plays great in cockatils.
Holmes Cay Jamaica ITP 2007
This 15 year old pot still rum from Long Pond balances heavy cask notes with moderate Jamaican fruit, and is a neat exemplar of the distillery’s juice before The Fire™.
Appleton Estate Hearts Collection 2003
This 18 year old pot still rum from Appleton Estate is proof that Appleton has range. Banana bread, dried berries, pineapple, leather.
Hampden Great House 2022
This high-ester installment in Hampden’s annual Great House series is aggressively packed with flavor. Overripe fruits dominate, with spice, vinegar, and vegetal notes in the background.
Habitation Velier Hampden 2010 LROK
This 6 year old molasses-based pot still rum from Hampden is sort of the upper-middle class of the ester world. Pineapple, banana, ester, cinnamon.
Habitation Velier Forsyths WP 2005
This 10 year old molasses-based pot still rum from Worthy Park keeps you guessing. Oak, banana, pineapple, brown sugar and allspice.
Worthy Park Single Estate 2006
This 12 year molasses-based pot still rum from Worthy Park is classically handsome. Rich oak, overripe bananas, dried cherries, and a bit of leather.
I Did a Blind Taste Test With 16 Aged Jamaican Rums; These Were My Favorites
There may be no rum origin more quintessential than Jamaica. Known for the fresh, fruity and funky flavors produced by long fermentations and pot still distillation, Jamaican rum holds a special place in many spirit enthusiasts hearts, including my own. 16 bottles later, here are my favorite standard release aged Jamaican rums.
Coruba Jamaica Rum
This pot column blend from J. Wray & Nephew gave us strong notes molasses and chocolate, with hints of banana, grape, wood, brown sugar, and baking spice.
Doctor Bird
This pot still rum distilled at Worthy Park in Jamaica and finished in Moscatel casks in Michigan gave us note of overripe banana and pineapple.