Hampden 11 y/o - Kill Devil - 63,2%
Photo taken somewhere in Stuttgart
Those Hampden Kill Devils have a notorious reputation in the Rum Scene, for being extremely extreme, sometimes odd and everything but nice. Does this deter us? We are afraid precisely the opposite is the case.
Nose
Seven hells on wheels! Newest plastic, strongly fermented pineapple juice, nail polish, rusty nails, 100 Octane petrol and vanilla. This is some ultra rocket fuel, that makes you hate it first, but dares you going in there again. Water, quickly!
With water: The Ester Monster is a little bit under control now, but remains a sweet monster, which only became fresher. And it openend up: Plumes of thick camphor and green olives from the glass, ice bonbons (the sticky lightblue bastards), overripe bananas, Werthers caramell and roasted butter are dancing in the nose. And something very odd: game meat! Pure Madness dear friends.
Palate
The first impression is so dense, brine and heavy, as if one squaremeter gets squeezed into a coin. Razor-sharp and ultra sweet in both directions. The ester level almost explodes with tons of rubber infused (yes, exactly) rotten bananas, pineapple juice, mango sorbet and spilled gasoline.
With water: Basically all those fruits got even more intense, intensifying the funk.
Finish
To say it's long would be so understated, even for an englishman. Pure adstringency, the dried peels of those mentioned exotics and funnily those gums from primary school.
Rating
The clichéd quote that genius and madness are close to each other gets a whole new meaning here. With those Hampdens it's almost the same experience like with the first sip of heavily peated Islay Malt: First disgusted, same time fascinated, next time lit, finally addicted and before you see it comin' you're wearing Octomore as a perfume (tragical principal of causality).
