February 2020, I receive from a very friendly friend a set of 6 samples of the 6 Hampden single casks bottled by Velier in 2019. 6 Single casks, 6 different marks in brutal raw mode …
In love with the Great House, I imagine myself trying to redo the assembly: OWH + DOK (ho, we still don’t really know too much) …. And there, problem, no DOK alone in this lineup!
So, I remember the Caroni Ceremony where we made a super blend of the 13 barrels selected for a commemorative bottle in honor of Luca … And why not make me 3 centilitres of this mega blend of death?
So, I embark on the making of a Hampden blend test of 6 different marks: HLCF / DOK / OWH / H / LFCH / LROK …. in the end, it’s planned for that basically not?
For the proportions, I did it simple, it will be 0.5 cl of each … The line-up being quite rare as well, I really wanted to keep the maximum to share. All of course having had time to rest, it was not done directly in the mouth !
So I know it’s stupid to do such a thing, especially when you see the crazy work that this quest was to bring these 6 bottles together, but you see, we don’t just do smart things in the life and in the end, all this is just rum 🙂
And as we are there to have a good time, in the end there is no reason not to do it.
Le pot Still 
Le domaine 
Mon blend
Color
Gold, like the others … which seems quite logical since they all have + – the same color.
Nose
Lime, grany apple, green banana, solvent, citrus, pepper, vanilla, camphor, caramel, marzipan …
Very fragrant, floral border with a slight almond, also quite buttery, brioche, pastry, lightly smoked, olives
Very sweet alcohol in fact … quite overwhelming, it is very integrated and that, I really did not expect it!
Palate
Back to normal, there it’s already more brutal but without being too much …
Banana, apple, strawberry, nutmeg, spices, olive … are all fairly classic. The watts are rather well integrated, the buttered side should help with this.
It’s very oily, fruity and rather greedy in fact with a long finish on brine, oak, toast, smoky, olive
Less rich than lrok, more oily and fruity. The wood is there but no longer behind. It’s fresh, delicious and almost balanced …
Price
Complicated to say but it must be worth too much this blend 🙂
If Hampden is having fun doing this directly, I imagine that it should be around 100 € considering the Great House from 7 years old to 89 € and that we are here an age of 7 years old for the youngest and 9 years for the oldest
Conclusion
Amazed in fact, I didn’t think that making a blend with so little science could give something very good …
Hampden in mono mark has very rarely amazed me, except for the very old …. but in blending, it directly takes on a whole new dimension.
Score
89/100
