Lloyd's Rum Syndicate N°2 - Saint Catherine 14yo

THE DISTILLERY

In the heart of Jamaica, tucked away in the hills of the Saint Catherine parish lies the oldest rum distillery still operating in the world. As is often the case with rum distilleries, the WP Estate’s initial focus was growing sugar cane before the owners realized the opportunity of making rum as a by-product. The first records of rum production at Saint Catherine go back to 1741 and went on uninterrupted for over 200 years before being mothballed in the early 1960s due to overproduction of Jamaica rum.

A new state-of-the-art distillery was built on the premises of the estate in 2005 which uses a Forsyths 100% copper, double-retort pot still imported from Scotland. The distillery produces rum in pure Jamaican style and given using molasses produced from local sugar cane processed at the WP Estate’s own sugar mill.

THE RUM

This single cask of rum has matured in a bourbon barrel 9 years at the tropics before being transferred to Scotland where it matured or another 5 years (14 years in total). The cask was bottled at 54.5% ABV.

On the nose this rum delivers a combination of wilted flowers, dried bananas and green mango without being excessively sweet.

On the palate it releases notes resembling a tropical fruit salad of mango, papaya and pineapple before finishing with Jamaican pepper, cloves and other spices.

This rum is the perfect Christmas companion suitable to accompany both sweet and savoury, not to mention a Caribbean cigar. Try it with Thai salad, sweet and sour pork or a good old pork roast with apple sauce.