Worthy Park Select Jamaican Rum (40%)
A short while ago, my niece was in Jamaica and kindly offered to ferry me back a bottle of Worthy Park Single Estate Reserve, a simply delightful blend of six to ten year old, copper pot distilled rums replete with all the wonderful estery notes typical of Jamaican rums, but combined with a reserved but marvellously funky character that made it instantly appealing. So when I saw that Worthy Park Select was presently available in Ontario, I raced out to pick up a bottle.
Family owned since 1918, Worthy Park has a history that dates back to 1655 as an entity, 1720 as a sugar plantation, and 1741 as a distiller of rum. While only distilling intermittently over the following two centuries, even that limited production ceased entirely in 1962, when the overproduction of Jamaican rum led to Worth Park agreeing to terms with the Spirits Pool Association of Jamaica and closing its distillery.
Work to restore the distillery began in 2005 and by 2007 Worthy Park was back in the rum business. Using a pot still supplied by Forsyths of Scotland, the distillery produces a range of rums that include an overproof white rum branded as Rum-Bar, a companion white rum distilled from a mix of cane juice and molasses, Worthy Park Overproof, a range of cask-finished rums, a pair of single estate rums, and of course, Worthy Park Select.
Composed of pot distilled rums aged from four to twelve years in American oak, while Select lacks the ‘Single Estate’ declaration of the Reserve, its back label boasts that it is “distilled, aged, blended, and bottled” on the Worthy Park estate.
Deep gold in colour, Select lacks the boisterousness of the Reserve, offering instead a more subtle but still attractive mix of banana and cinnamon that puts me somewhat in mind of the New Orleans dessert, Bananas Foster, although obviously less sweet and banana-ish. There is a whiff of the funk found in the Single Estate Reserve, but softer, drier, and more earthy and vanilla-accented.
The palate entry is somewhat sweet and toffee-ish, with vanilla appearing first, followed by fresh orange and peach notes and a hint of baking spice. On the mid-palate, it grows spicier, with nutmeg and cinnamon notes accenting flavours of orange toffee, dried stone fruit, and nearing the finish, a touch of milk and dark chocolate. On that finish, the rum grows drier, more earthy, and a bit funkier.
While the family resemblance to the Reserve is almost instantly apparent, it seems that this is more a rum blended for mixing, rather than sipping, (And it deserves noting that the Single Estate Reserve, where available in Canada, seems to be selling for more than twice what I paid for the Select!) That said, however, this is a singular expression that more than encapsulates the character of Worthy Park in a bottling that is both accessible and delightful.
91 ($46)