This 2010 installment in the Habitation Velier series in a molasses based pot still rum from Hampden out of Jamaica. It was tropically aged for 6 years (leading to an angel’s share of > 40%) before being bottled at 67% ABV. It clocks in 375 grams of esters per hlAA (the bottle says “375 gr/laa” though I’m pretty sure that has to be a typo, because that would be,,,, really deadly?), a bit more than double the ester level of Smith and Cross.

We measured a density of 0.891g/cc and a refractive index of 1.3627, indicating no additives (duh) and agreeing with the bottle’s low key “Sugar free” label.

Depending on how long it’s been sitting out, the first note on the nose is either ester, overripe banana, or pineapple, with the other two not far behind. A repeated nosing gives a faint whiff of sweet balsamic vinegar, chocolate, or blueberry. On the palate the banana stands out a bit more, followed by some spice and vanilla. The pineapple is still there, and then back of the palate is rounded out by pepper, ginger, and tea. But you can’t spend too long contemplating those guys because the finish arrives early and leaves late: there’s some cinnamon and banana, along with a light bitterness. For it’s modest 6 years it really verges on “licking an oak plank” levels of astringency at the end.

In our blind taste test we thought it was great as a neat sipper (8.6/10) and great-but-not-quite-as-great mixed in a drink (8.0/10)—the tannic end seems to make it not the best team player.

Habitation Velier releases excel at letting the underlying distilate shine through, and so evaluating the 2010 LROK in many ways feels equivalent to evaluating the LROK marque itself. In Hampden’s lineup of marques LROK comes right before HLCF, and according to the information sheet included with their Eight Marks collection, “HLCF can be considered the threshold for higher ester profiles.” By extension, that kind of makes LROK the highest ester marque that isn’t high ester (by their standards at least). And that’s a niche that it really crushes. Don’t get me wrong: I’m just as interested in having my entire face dissolved by a bottle of Great House as the next rum nerd, but that’s an intense, totalizing experience that demands 100% of my attention. LROK on the other hand is still super interesting and complex, but also just really pleasant, and I don’t always need my rum to be an exercise in building character.

The superficial: A classic Habitation Velier bottling: tons of information, an adorable sill illustration, and a shape that’s satisfying to hold and compact to store. The wooden top and synthetic cork are utilitarian, but overall a really pleasing bottle to have on the shelf.