HAMPDEN ESTATE HLCF CLASSIC
Finally summer has come to an end. Not that we like the end of summer. Oh, no…
End of summer for some people means the end of the parties, the start of school/college, new obligations… But for some of us, whose summer obligations prevented us from visiting crowded places in the high summer season, it means vacation.
Finally a vacation! Time to pop up a bottle of champagne and lay on the beach, alternatively. On the other hand, we could pop up a bottle of rum and have a 200% beach vacation feeling.
Beach vacation feeling at the end of September, beginning of October?
Why not, even if it sounds a little bit weird at first sight. Again, what could be better than reading a favorite book and sipping rum on the beach that isn’t so cramped like it was a few weeks ago? Answer could be: Sipping rum that looks like a book, or reading the book that contains rum in it.
“Never judge a book by its cover.”- otherwise, you’ll end up reading a quite interesting book that has word rum in the title but very, very little rum in the plot of the book.
That book is called The Rum Diary, an interesting book written by Hunter S. Thompson. Small and compact size perfect for the beach with a very interesting plot that will keep you whole time concentrated on it. But you will not read anything about rum, except the consummation of rum sometimes.
Despite the popular saying, if you really want and insist on judging a book by its cover, we would recommend a “book” , the Hampden Estate HLCF Classic “written” by Everglades family in 2009, with world premiere in 2018. Unlike that first book, this book is not so compact. Actually, it is quite huge and heavy. It is more like some sort of yellow Bible with ground Hampden rules of HLCF rum production, and it fits more on some book(rum) shelf than on the beach. Finally, it is our vacation, and our time for “reading” a book.
Choosing these two books for this summer holiday was not a coincidence. Many things are similar even though they are miles apart and even though it doesn’t seem so at first glance. For instance, both books, as well as this vacation, take place on the islands. Reading these two “books” on the beautiful and diverse island of Hvar in Croatia are give us a triple island feeling.
On one hand you are under the leggero rhythm of island Hvar reading about crazy life in Puerto Rico in the late 1950’s. While on the other hand, or it would be better to say “in the other hand” you have a glass of HLCF Classic. Love story of jealousy, treachery mixed with 60% pure gold from Jamaica grand cru distillery Hampden Estate in Trelawny Parish naturally led us to think about moving to the island. Because the more we consume islands in the form of images, feelings and even the taste of rum, the more we realize that the islands have their own defiance, their own values that they are proud of.
Just look at the cover of the HLCF Classic rum and everything will be clear to us. Today, when additives, supplements and all other possible and impossible ways of “improving” the taste of rum take their place in the production of rum, this distillery proudly adheres to its five principles, or as they say- The Five Pillars:
- SPRING WATER from the mountains collected using their own collection system, which returns, after use, clean water to the earth
- WILD FERMENTATION in cone-shaped wooden vats is the technique from the 18th century that creates high levels of esters. This technique uses extremely extended fermentation, up to 15 days with natural yeasts and it is equally important both for the formation of esters and for the unique taste and profile of this rum.
- 100% POT STILL is probably one of the last man standing in the rum world. Despite the new trends Hampden Estate is one of the few distilleries in the world that are still using discontinuous distillation in copper double retort pot stills.
- TROPICAL AGING is approximately three times faster than aging in Europe.
- SUGAR FREE as well as no additives. Pure and authentic.
All these five pillars are written together with some nice photos on the book cover, same as on the first few pages when we open the “book”, where a 700 ml bottle with two old fashioned glasses is waiting for us.
It is time to pop-up a bottle for a real island feeling that we mentioned at the beginning!
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