Review #89: DOK 1489 Trelawny (Hampden) Review

A few months ago the folks at Fine Drams released a few rums that were picked by folks from the community at r/rum. For those who don’t use reddit regularly, the site can be a bit overwhelming, and much of it is terrible, but once you find good communities you’ll really enjoy it. The r/rum and r/whiskey communities are both excellent, filled with supportive folks who like to review and taste spirits.

Anywho, when I saw that they were releasing a bottle of DOK I knew I had to jump onboard and pick it up. For the unacquainted, DOK is a marque, a sort of industry-speak designation for rum based on the rum’s attributes. Marques have been used for hundreds of years in Caribbean rum, describing where a rum is made, and in the case of Jamaican rums, how estery it is. If you’re looking for more details on it, check out the explainer on the cocktail wonk’s site. Two of the most famous marques are Plummer and Wedderburn which you might recognize as the rums used to make Smith and Cross.

The DOK rum, short for Dermot Owen Kelly-Lawson, clocks in with roughly 4X the ester count of Smith and Cross. It’s also unaged, and 69% ABV. Not a good “intro to rum” type spirit.

Clear bottle of rum next to glencarins

Hampden DOK Fine Drams Review
  • Score - 3/10
    3/10
Overall
3/10
3/10

Tasting Notes

 
Nose: Subtle like a hand grenade exploding. One of those drams that fills the whole room as soon as you open it. Rotting banana, lime and salt. Terrific nose, strong tropical fruits, pineapple, guava, papaya, and starburst candy.
 
Palate: A hint of fruit, then overwhelmed by alcohol. Ash covered bananas. Goes to mouth-numbingly strong alcohol. Searing and mouth-numbing interspersed with banana cream, interspersed again with more ethanol. Has the feeling of drinking gasoline. With water, odd-adhesive, lighter taste, dirt and volcanic ash. Wouldn’t say it helps…
 
Summary
 
Overall: 3/10 as a sipping rum. Although I really can’t recommend drinking this rum neat, but it can be wondrous in a negroni, daiquiri, or to punch up a tiki drink.
 
MSRP: 45.60 Euros on Fine Drams 

Quick overview of our scoring system


Additional Information

  • ABV: 69%
  • Distillery: N/A (Hampden Estate)
  • Bottled 8/16/2019
  • One of 400 bottles.
  • Pot still, molasses based rum.
  • Brokered by E&A Scheer
  • 1488.8 g/hLAA ester count
  • 3196.6 g/hLAA total volatile substances

About Hampden Estate

  • Hampden has been operating since 1779, surviving on bulk sales to European blenders
  • The Hampden distillery is known for its high dunder rums
  • Produces pure single rums (100% pot still rum that are molasses-based) and one of two in Jamaica (the other being Worthy Park) that produces pure single rums vs. blended rums (blended with column still rum)

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