Velier Hampden Rare Cask Series HGML

 This is a very nice bottling no doubt. Rich in flavours including the HGML fruit basked, roasted notes and plenty influence from the cask. Alongside the DOK this is clearly the best bottling of the rare cask series. Only if you try it side by side with other tropically aged HGMLs, you will find that some liveliness is missing. The HV 2010 bottling is actually a few steps ahead of this one presenting the make perfectly and with a bit more excitement than this (very good) bottling.

 I picked up a fresh batch of samples from a friend and had a go at them yesterday. This is a nice and intense release and I particularly love the floral notes that are released once rested for a while. Draws really nice curtains in the glass. The empty glass is really nice and even more flavours can be picked up.

 Delicious HGML Tropically stored. Nice fruity nose with relatively little esters . On the palate also rather restrained but nice oily mouthfeel with lots of fruit, esters and wood . Finish then a bit bitter. A good drop ... PLV fits for me here unfortunately not.

 Very tasty HGML. An incredible amount of tropical fruits, pleasant esters, candied caramelized pineapple, citrus cordial, light cookies and candy sugar as well as a subtle acidity in the finish. It's really fun! Apart from the price, there's nothing to complain about.

 Tasted at the Pueblo del Ron Nuremberg 2024. First of all, a big thank you to the guys from Kirsch, who opened a new bottle especially for my dram. It was a revelation for me to be able to taste it so freshly opened. A real cracker.

 Hampden Mark HGML... one of my favorite Marks... and a great rum here too. Tropically matured and not quite as fruity... but with beautiful esters... the spices predominate somewhat on the palate and the alcohol is not quite perfectly integrated.

 Very nice Hampden, where you can clearly taste the tropical maturation. This is perhaps somewhat lacking the fruity notes. Nevertheless, very high level. Must soon pass in comparison with the HV Hgml.

 This Hampden HGML shows a remarkable aromatic intensity, the beginnings of which can be felt on the nose with an explosion of fruit and phenolic notes. It is heavy, intense, powerful, but it remains greedy. Then the palate reveals new fruity notes, like red fruits and their acidulous side, spicy notes, a light floral side and tannins. The whole is fat, heavy and very aromatic. The finish focuses more on the fruit and phenolic notes. A rum in the pure Jamaican tradition with superb aromas, but although it is the best of the Single Cask series, its price remains questionable.

 A tropically aged HGML, you don't see that every day either!Intense and powerful and with clear HGML characteristics. Due to the tropical aging rather wilder and "pointed" in the esters, especially on the palate a strong marzipan note even for HGML. Still, something is missing for me here flavor-wise, a bit more breadth and complexity and depth in the fruity notes. Also, the everlasting finish typical of Hampden is not present here, which I find very disappointing. If you then consider the price and put it in relation to the HV HGML, this bottling just can not fully convince. Nevertheless, still tasty and good, a Hampden tastes almost always.

 A typical Hampden on the nose. Very tasty tropical fruit basket with lots of pineapple and citrus fruits. Complemented by a little marzipan and banana. Esters only discreetly in the background. The pineapple is incredibly present on the palate. Otherwise the tropical fruit basket with lots of mango and some nail varnish. The pineapple remains pleasantly dominant in the long, warm finish. A very good, but not an outstanding Hampden, it is not varied or complex enough for that.

 Tropically matured single casks directly from Hampden are then already something special. And HGML is already one of my favorite marks.Nose: intense and yet round. Full and typical Hampden aromas. Pleasant but dominant esters with a distinct vinegar note and solvent. A nice pineapple marzipan sweetness, dark honey, sweet and sour lemon and lime give the fruity-sweet side. Besides that, it is also spicy and very slightly smoky. 87Palate: starts astringent, then briefly bitter and then comes all the power of the esters. Sweet and sour pineapple with lemon zest but also fresh lemon come intensely to the palate as do marzipan and nail polish. It seems creamy overall, almost oily. Ester and pineapple as well as astringency extend well into the finish. Great, mature HGML. 89

 Phew...if you consider the price and also what the "standard" HV HGML is able to perform, then one must speak here of a bitter disappointment. Nose is not so promising and a bit bitter on the palate. Solid Jamaican at which the PLV is incredibly bad.

 In itself a tiptop bottling. The typical markers are there, the esters come through well, good drinking sensation. Nevertheless, something is missing to leave a lasting impression. Due to the designation as a rare cask, I simply expected something that stood out more.

 Weit weg von den legendären HGMLs, die es gibt. Schöne Süffigkeit, hintenraus fehlt etwas die Power und die Komplexität. Da hatte ich bei dem Preis und Daten deutlich mehr erwartet, auch wenn der Rum selbst natürlich fehlerfrei ist.

 Great, very round HGML! Tropical fruit and salted caramel. The only thing stopping me from buying a bottle is the price.