Spirit of Rum – Treasure casks 2021

Two bottlings released few days ago by Spirit of Rum, let’s talk about the Edition 16 & 18 of Rumclub Private Selection. It would be wrong to say that this kind of release is not hyping, as we didn’t see any Gardel released for a long time now. We also have something very familiar to me, a 1992 Hampden bottled for Rum-depot, a German spirit shop.
What are we waiting for?

Rumclub Treasure cask Gardel 1983-2021 (46.6%, 285 bottles)

Colour: Light coffee.
Nose: As expected it’s woody, very woody, but also very intense with some depth. Leather, tobacco, plums, mint, eucalyptus candies, maple syrup, petrol, coffee beans, burnt caramel, some citruses notes, dried apricots, blackcurrant, bitter cocoa and ashes. Forest walk by a rainy day but much more pleasant than it is, this is what this nose inspires me.
Mouth: Nice creamy texture with the same intensity we had with the nose. Lot of wood again, eucalyptus, red berries, raspberries, blackcurrant, blood oranges, burnt caramel, tobacco, dark bitter chocolate, plums, black grapes, white pepper, leather, camphor, vanilla and some roasted notes at the end. The alcohol is very well integrated, that’s a classy mouth.
Finish: Long and refined. Peppermint, vanilla, mix of forest berries, burnt wood, dark chocolate, licorice, leather, almonds and some floral notes.

If you never tasted a Gardel yet, the aromatic profile is a little close to the old Bellevue ones in my opinion. This one is probably slightly too woody, even if I usually enjoy woody rums.
Good job for this nice selection, which -a bit like those recent WIRDs bottlings- get us out of our habits.

Score: 89

Rumclub Treasure cask Hampden 1992-2021 (58.6%, 359 bottles, HLCF)

Colour: Light gold.
Nose: Funky, fresh and classy. It’s an expressive nose with lot of delicacy. Candied pineapples, candied lemons, marzipan, grapefruits, mix of green and black olives brown sugar, roasted coconuts, bananas, glue, nutmeg and some wood.
Mouth: The alcohol is well integrated, it’s warm and intense with a pleasant oily texture. Candied exotic fruits, mangoes, pineapples, banana bread, cake dough, brown sugar, marzipan, glue, black olives, fuel, sardines, some smoke, mineral notes and some spices. Very well balanced mouth between the Jamaican funkyness and those sugary fruits, I love it.
Finish: Long. Burnt wood, roasted pineapples, peppermint, vanilla, smoke and cocoa.

That’s a very complete Hampden without any false step, everything match properly and it even has a little bit of an extra thing.
Very nice job, probably the best ’92 Hampden to date!

Score: 91

I didn’t expect the Gardel to have a lower score than this Hampden 92 (as it’s not my favorite mark/vintage) but we really got some serious stuff today. I already tasted this Hampden 1990 release from Rumclub Private Selection which was very nice as well so I’m looking forward to see what’s next!
Thanks Oliver for the samples, cheers.