Rumfest 2019: Worthy Park

Thanking Peter [WLP], we move from Barbados to Worthy Park in Jamacia.

Worthy Park 2008/2019 Ob. Special Cask Release #1 ‘Port’ [585 bts] 56% tFRP4.5/5

This ‘special’ 100% pot still rum saw a short port finish [yep, a finish – I said it!], after spending 9 years in ex-bourbon.

• C: This may be my first port cask-infused rum. It’s like a food pairing session in a glass – port & cheese or port with red meats & a plum sauce – those kinds of associations are conjured. With super form we see a considered finish yet I’m not sure about it enough to give a score at this time.

[Not scored]

 

Worthy Park 2013/2019 Ob. Special Cask Release #4 ‘Madeira’ [677 bts] 58% TFRP3.5

[Stock photo]

• C: The cask influence is dominant, so let’s talk not about balance but instead what the cask is offering. There’s a saltiness, a mild & alluring sweetness and a controlled yet building resinousness. I find lots of liquorice at the death though that may have been shaped by the previous port cask-finished WP.

Scores 84 points

 

Worthy Park 3yo [2019] Un-Ob. Gunpowder Proof Dark Rum cask sample #4/19 55% [750ml]

• N: Liquid ice cream for grownups is all I noted.
• T: Arrives effortlessly and very neatly before rapidly lifting off. Adding water brings out the key element, the grassy vegetal sugar cane. This is archetypal rum for me, being a spirit made from sugar cane and aged in oak with a bitter sour & sweet profile.
• F: A longer finish than the previous WP with some lingering curry spices.
• C: A little simple yet worthy of three more points than Pusser’s GP [WLP].

Scores 85 points

 

Worthy Park 2006/2018 12yo Ob. 56%

Bottled in 2018 but released in 2019 using some of the first casks ever laid down at Worthy Park since its reopening in 2005 [website].

• N: Sweet and accessible waxy funk with a dry sour note.
• T: A vibrant and impressively consolidated rum with a profile that suggests soft acetone funk with some butyric-ness. Being fairly savoury-sour at its heart, those butyric notes diminish after only a few sips. A big yet controlled woodiness allows the spirit its due, so balance personified.
• F: Molasses and ripe banana at the death after a long candy-waxy chew.
• C: Not exactly my style, but rocking rum. Such was the continental-aged heavy oaky character as well as the significance of this release, I couldn’t resist buying a bottle.

Scores 89 points

 

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