Hamilton St. Lucia Cask Strength 9 Year Old Rum. St. Lucia Distillers, Roseau Valley, Saint Lucia distilled in October 2005 on the 2,000-litre Vendme hybrid pot still, aged nine years in a single ex-bourbon barrel, and bottled by Ed Hamilton at cask strength with no added color, sugar, or additives whatsoever.

St. Lucia Distillers occupies a unique position in Caribbean rum a distillery operating three different pot stills alongside column stills, producing a range of marques with characters unlike anything else in the region. The Vendme hybrid pot still, commissioned in 2003, produces a distillate with a distinctive industrial-medicinal complexity that experts have compared to the legendary Caroni rums of Trinidad: deeply funky, earthy, and intensely flavorful. Ed Hamilton the Minister of Rum secured seven casks of this 2005 Vendme pot still distillate and bottled them as the Hamilton St. Lucia 9 Year series, yielding just 144 cases (1,728 bottles) total. The rum was distilled from a Guyanese molasses wash, condensed at approximately 82% ABV, and aged in a single ex-bourbon barrel in Saint Lucia for the full nine years before the barrel was shipped to New York for cask-strength bottling at 67.4% ABV.

The result is one of the most singular expressions in Hamilton’s lineup a rum that confounds expectations of what St. Lucian rum can be. Rum Diaries Blog called it the best St. Lucian rum they had ever tasted; Memphis Rum Club noted it stands shoulder to shoulder with the finest Foursquare Exceptional Cask expressions and Velier Demerara bottlings. It is a rum for the collector and the connoisseur, not the casual sipper.

Tasting Notes

• Nose: Dark burnished gold, oily and complex. Acetone, rubber, and pear drops settle quickly into stone fruit, raisins, cocoa, and cinnamon-raisin bread. Smoked pumice stone, charred oak, and a distinctive medicinal quality that opens beautifully with time. Burnt orange oil and delicate florals emerge in the background.
• Palate: Dry, spicy, and tannic entry. Velvety throughout chocolate, honeycomb, dark fruit, vanilla, meat, pepper, and brine interweave. Rotting banana, underripe blueberries, grapefruit, pineapple, and a thread of permanent marker funk. The industrial complexity is fully present without being overwhelming.
• Finish: Long, strong, and funky. Sour blueberries, green apple, pineapple rind, cinnamon, banana peel, and the Vendme’s signature industrial character carry through. Remarkably sippable at full cask strength given the ABV.

Specs

• Distillery: St. Lucia Distillers, Roseau Valley, Saint Lucia
• Still: Vendme hybrid pot still (2,000-litre, commissioned 2003)
• Vintage: Distilled October 2005; bottled 2015
• Aging: 9 years in a single ex-bourbon barrel in Saint Lucia
• Production: 7 casks / 144 cases / 1,728 bottles total
• No added color, sugar, or additives.
• ABV: 67.4% (134.8 Proof) cask strength
• Size: 750ml

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Frequently Asked Questions

• What makes this rum so unusual among St. Lucian expressions? St. Lucia Distillers’ Vendme hybrid pot still produces a distillate character unlike anything else in the Caribbean deeply industrial, medicinal, and complex in a way that rum experts have compared to the legendary Caroni rums of Trinidad. Most St. Lucian rum in commercial release is blended and filtered for accessibility; this is a single barrel, cask strength, completely uncompromised expression of that character.
• How limited is this release? Seven casks total. 144 cases. 1,728 bottles. When Ed Hamilton’s inventory is exhausted, there will be no more St. Lucia Distillers no longer sells bulk rum to independent bottlers.
• How should I serve this at 67.4% ABV? A few drops of water unlock the aromatics significantly the cask strength amplifies the industrial funk but water softens the fire without losing the character. Or use a single large ice cube and let it dilute slowly over 1015 minutes.
• Is this comparable to Caroni or Velier Demerara bottlings? Reviewers who have tasted extensively across rare Caribbean rum consistently place this rum in that tier. The Vendme still character has a similar industrial-medicinal quality to certain Caroni marques, and the age integration achieves a complexity that rivals Foursquare Exceptional Cask releases.
• What is the difference between the 8 Year and 9 Year? Both are distilled in 2005 on the Vendme still. The 9 Year is slightly more mellow and integrated reviewers who tasted both side-by-side gave a narrow edge to the 9 Year for greater complexity and harmony despite its higher ABV.

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