Spinnaker Rum - Jamaica WPM 2015 (Worthy Park)

Reviewer: Pickwick (with notes from Tashtego)

Distillery: Worthy Park
Origin: Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica
Bottle Size: 375 ml
Bottle Count: Exact number not given; website states “under 300” sets
ABV: 57.8%
Distilled: 2015
Base Material: Molasses
Still: Pot
Aging specs: 8.8 years continental (UK); 0.4 years in Texas, recasked in Still Austin ex-bourbon
Bottled: 2025

Nose: Honeyed banana, orange, oak spice, overripe mango, wildflowers, blackberry jam, apple
Palate: Orange blossom, peppercorn, Bananas Foster, marshmallow, green apple, rosewater
Finish: Orange zest, pastry cream, charred oak

This is the second of the four bottles in the inaugural Spinnaker release; it’s also from Jamaica, but this time from Worthy Park, a distillery with which I don’t have quite the robust familiarity that I have with Hampden. Taking the wide view, that might benefit this rum; when it’s harder to tell what’s the base rum and what’s the bourbon finish, it helps to sell the integration. But with that said, I do think the flavors are especially well-integrated here. Aside from the clear notes of oak and some pastry cream notes that presumably come from that bourbon-barrel vanilla character, there’s very little that I think is obviously attributable to the cask, which either means the rum really stood up for itself or they’ve meshed well. (Possibly both!)

Worthy Park is often noted to have a lot of banana in its profile, and I do get some of that, but this one for me tastes like orange for days. It’s all over the nose, the palate, and well into the finish. There are a lot of other fruit flavors too, though; mango, apple, and berries stand out in the nose, along with some florals. This carries into the sweet and spicy palate, where notes of peppercorn hit early before fading into the sweetness of marshmallows and Bananas Foster; floral rosewater complements the orange blossom towards the back palate. The body is pretty full, helping to boost that vanilla into a pastry cream note on the finish, along with a hint of char to round out the lingering oak notes.

If you’re only going to get one bottle from the Spinnaker set, this is the one I’d recommend. It’s a solid 4 on Taste, and probably towards the high end of that number; it tastes like a rum you’re drinking in a tropical garden with fruit trees and flowering plants all around you. Similarly, I’d rate it a 4 on Haste; in most areas of the country you’ll have to have Spinnaker shipped to you anyway. I think it’s worth owning the whole set if you like rum, but like I said, this is the one to get if you’re on a budget. Many rums are distilled in the Caribbean, but not all of them taste like a one-way ticket to the islands. This one does.

Taste/Haste Scale: 4 / 4